AEW star Cash Wheeler arrested and charged for aggravated assault with a firearm after pleading not guilty

AEW star Cash Wheeler arrested and charged for aggravated assault with a firearm after pleading not guilty

  • A warrant was initially filed for Wheeler’s arrest in Florida back on June 28
  • The AEW tag-team champion pleaded not guilty to the charges on August 3
  • DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news 

All Elite Wrestling star Cash Wheeler was arrested in Orlando on Friday morning and charged with aggravated assault with a firearm.

The 36-year-old, real name Daniel Wheeler, was booked in Circuit Court on one charge of aggravated assault with a firearm, Orange County Records show. The charge in question is a third-degree felony in the state of Florida.

A warrant was initially filed back on June 28, with Wheeler pleading not guilty through his attorney on August 3 before he was eventually arrested on Friday morning.

Wheeler appeared in court Friday afternoon, where prosecutors said the arrest appeared to stem from ‘a road rage-type incident.’

Police documents say a man said he had been driving when he spotted a Jeep Gladiator ‘weaving in and out of traffic’ and honking its horn, according to TMZ. 

All Elite Wrestling star Cash Wheeler was arrested in Orlando on Friday morning

Wheeler, one half of AEW tag-team champions FTR with partner Dax Harwood (left), was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a firearm

Wheeler, one half of AEW tag-team champions FTR with partner Dax Harwood (left), was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a firearm

The man reportedly said he pulled into the far right lane to avoid the Jeep but its driver moved into the shoulder and pulled out a black semi-automatic handgun, which he pointed at him with a ‘strong stare.’

Wheeler, who spent six years in the WWE before leaving the organization in 2020, is one half of the current AEW tag-team champions ‘FTR ‘along with partner Dax Harwood. 

As things stand, FTR is currently booked in to wrestle the Young Bucks – their years-long tag-team rivals –  at AEW All-In at Wembley Stadium in London on August 27.

It is believed the event has already sold a staggering 80,000 tickets, which will go down as one of the biggest crowds in pro-wrestling history. 

In a statement given to the Orlando Sentinel, the promotion said: ‘AEW has been made aware of the charge, and we are closely monitoring the situation. [Wheeler] is fully cooperating with local authorities.’

Dailymail.com has reached out to Wheeler’s attorney for comment. 

Wheeler started his wrestling career on the independent circuit under the ring name Steven Walters, appearing for NWA Anarchy along with a host of other promotions before signing for the WWE in 2014.

It was there where he took on the alias Dash Wilder, a name given to him by wrestling legend Dusty Rhodes.

Wheeler won the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships in his time with the company, before he and Harwood, who went by the name Scott Dawson, were released from their contracts in April 2020.

It later emerged that FTR had turned down a big-money offer to stay in the WWE in order to join AEW after being pulled from a number of main roster events.

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