Top Dolla is no stranger to the camera.
Before he made his television debut in professional wrestling as a part of Hit Row, Top Dolla landed various on-screen appearances on channels like ESPN and the NFL Network during his previous ventures in football. In addition, he even secured a gig as the host of WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures. There, he traveled across the country in search of unique wrestling collectibles. His ultimate goal, though, would land him on late night television.
“I have one goal left. It’s to host The Tonight Show,” he told Ryan Satin on Out of Character. “That’s my end goal at the end of all of this, 20 years from now. That’s what I want to do.”
The Hot Row stablemate continued on to explain his fascination with being on camera, which began when he was 14 years old.
“I started when I was in high school doing videos about trying to make myself better on camera, being able to perform on camera, understanding how you should present yourself when presenting a scene as opposed to when you are doing an interview, as opposed to when you are doing wrestling, and it’s action and you have to work different cameras at the same time,” he said. “Now I’m 32 and it’s all coming to fruition.”
Top Dolla, formerly known as A.J. Francis, delved deeper into his time as host of WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures, revealing that the company initially didn’t pitch him to be the host of the show. “They had no real reason for me — for them to want me to be that role because I hadn’t been on [wrestling] TV yet,” he said. “I hadn’t done anything yet.”
However, some people went on the defense of Top Dolla, referencing his previous football-related work. “They wanted somebody that had already been on TV, but the network and the production company were like, ‘Nah, we’ve seen what he’s done on ESPN and NFL Network, FOX and NBC Sports, ABC’ and all these other things that I did when I was in the NFL and when I was in college. Then they were like ‘nah, we want him.’ Anybody who watches that show knows that it was a great idea that they used me. I did a really good job in that show, and the show itself was really good.”
Top Dolla recently returned to WWE alongside Ashante “Thee” Adnis and B-Fab in August, designated to the SmackDown brand.
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