The last three years has seen AEW go from an upstart professional wrestling company to the number two promotion in the U.S., offering a true alternative to WWE on national TV for the first time since the fall of WCW. A major reason for this has been the incredibly deep roster of talent the young company has been able to foster, with names includingCM Punk, Jon Moxley, and Jade Cargill, to name a few. However, a new report confirms one of the company’s top tag teams and hottest wrestlers will not be in the launch version ofAEW Fight Foreverwhen it releases despite early work already being done for them.
In a report from Fightful Select via WrestleTalk, it was confirmed that the current Ring of Honor, AAA, and IWGP tag team champions FTR will not be inAEW Fight Foreverwhen it releases sometime between late 2022 and early 2023. The report says Yukes had begun work on Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood’s respective in-game models when the call came down to pull them from the launch version of the game earlier in the summer. It reportedly didn’t go over well with either wrestler, though, as their inclusion would have meant a pay bonus when the game released.
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The exclusion of FTR from AEW’s debut game is likely to be the first of many notable omissions from the launch game, though, as previous reports indicated the launch roster would not be that large. At launch, the game’s roster will reportedly feature only around 50 members of the over 160 roster members currently signed to AEW.Kris Statlander, Kenny Omega, Britt Baker, Adam Cole, and Chris Jericho are just five of the names already confirmed, though Yukes and AEW have yet to announce the finalized launch roster.
FTR’s exclusion from the launch version, though, is not proof that the team will be completely excluded from the game.AEW President and CEO Tony Khanhas already confirmed there are plans to expand the game’s roster with post-launch content updates, which may have put some players' nerves to rest given the abundance of talent the promotion has signed in the past year alone. It wouldn’t be surprising to see FTR headline one of these roster packs following the game’s release.
That said, FTR’s exclusion from the launch version also begs the question who else may not make the cut for release. Big names such asBrody King, Buddy Matthews, Keith Lee, Swerve Strickland, Toni Storm, Athena, and the other notable 2022 signings may not make it given how recently they all signed with AEW. This all remains speculative, though, and players will simply have to wait untilFight Foreverreleases to see who made it in.
AEW Fight Foreveris scheduled to release in late 2022/early 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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