Bruce Prichard Told FTR That Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard Never Drew Money

FTR made their names as students of the game, paying homage to the legendary tag teams of the past, and bringing an old-school mindset to modern tag wrestling.

However, it seems everything they knew about tag wrestling was false, as Bruce Prichard is clearly the authority.

During their time on WWE’s main roster, FTR - then The Revival - were pitched a gimmick by WWE creative that would have seen then lampoon legendary tag teams of the past, with Dax Harwood saying the following about the pitch on the FTR podcast:

"Before the clown outfits were presented to us, the initial idea was, Cash and I were going to be a different 80s wrestler or tag team every week. Bruce [Prichard] told us this. He tried to sell us, ‘This is the greatest thing in the world. Week one, you’re going to come in as The Fantastics. We’re going to give you the little trunks with your ass cheeks hanging out. You’re going to wear coattails and high-top hats, you come strutting out, sequins everywhere. Next week, you’re gonna be the Bushwhackers, you come out and lick each other’s heads and do the walk. The next week, you’re going to come out in tassels and wearing old rock n roll headbands, you'll be the Rock N Roll Express. The following week, you'll be Bobby [Eaton] and Dennis [Condrey - The Midnight Express], and we'll give you mullets.'

"You think this is money? This was when we had turned down the contracts," Dax added. "You’re going to waste television time to have us do this, just to embarrass us? That’s the part to me that’s stupid. Not giving us the characters that is stupid, you’re going to waste television time to embarrass us, why, to make Vince [McMahon] laugh?

"Bruce is going to call us in his office to try to sell us on it, as it’s this great visionary idea. I looked at Bruce, we kind of had words, ‘You think this is good?’ ‘This is great for you guys, it’s what you need.’ I’m going to be making fun of the people that I think have built this business and legacy. We’re not only going to s*** on me and Cash, we’re going to s*** on them too, ‘The Rock N Roll Express are nothing but jokes. The Fantastics and Fabulous Ones were corny 80s wrestling.’ These are my heroes. The next week they told us that, they gave us the verbiage of ‘going down yonder to sit on the creek with our grandma and grandpa to shoot some muskrats.’ Whatever they think rednecks say. I had the mic to say the verbiage and I said, ‘this is some real Martin Scorsese s***,’ and I threw it down."

Dax continued, noting how himself and Cash Wheeler ended up in Triple H’s office with Prichard to discuss the plans:

“I got called to Hunter [Triple H] and Bruce’s office. Hunter did laugh, he thought it was funny. They never devoted TV time to let us develop as characters, but they were willing to devote TV time for this and to try and embarrass guys who I considered to be heroes. That’s what bothered me," said Dax. "Bruce could have easily said, ‘I know this isn’t the greatest creative in the world, but as professionals, just go out there and show 'em. Show 'em you can make this work,’ but he didn’t. He tried to sell it to us. He said, ‘Everyone compares you guys to Arn [Anderson] and Tully [Blanchard], being this great tag team. Honestly, Arn and Tully never drew money.’ ‘You think so?’ ‘Yeah, they never drew money.’ ‘You’re telling me 1985-1986 Crockett, they didn’t draw money?’ ‘No, they didn’t draw money.’ ‘With the Four Horsemen?’ ‘No, they didn’t draw money.’ Whatever.”

So there you have it. Former WWF and NWA Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, those of the legendary Four Horsemen and the WWE Hall of Fame, they never drew a dime. Definitely not in the mid-80s NWA with Ric Flair. Nope.

H/T: Fightful