AJ Francis has two legends to thank for him signing for TNA.
The former WWE Superstar made his debut in the company at Hard to Kill 2024. He has recently been embroiled in a feud with Joe Hendry.
He had been released by the WWE in 2023, just a year after being re-signed to the company.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, the former Top Dolla revealed that his relationships with Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer was one reason why he signed with TNA.
He notes he as trained at the Team 3D Academy, and the pair’s partnership at Busted Open Radio made him become friends with Dreamer later on.
“I trained at the Team 3D Academy when I first started wrestling, so I had a relationship with Bully Ray already. One of the very best friends that I’ve made in this industry, he’s like my second dad really is Mark Henry. He looks like my dad too. He looks like my Daddy, looks like my dad’s next-level evolved Pokemon. So I have very good relationship with him. And they both also do Busted Open Radio with Tommy Dreamer.”
“And because of that, I also have a relationship with Tommy, and I’m talking to Tommy and Bully about going to TNA. When I knew I was leaving WWE, I wanted to go to TNA. Honestly I wanted to go to Impact, but then when I found out it was going to be TNA, I was like, Oh, I gotta go to TNA. I was knocking on Tommy’s door. My agent AB, he does a lot of work with Swerve and other people too. He talked to Tommy a lot and talked to Scott for me and we set it up. So we have a very good relationship now.”
AJ Francis Can Create A Buzz Without Even Wrestling
AJ Francis recently spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard, claiming that the “door’s not closed” on a return to the WWE. However, he is happy wrestling in promotions that value him at the moment.
“Look how he [CM Punk] acted when he was gone [from WWE]. Look at the things he said and did, and now he’s back. I’ve already had the conversations with Hunter. Hunter’s already told me himself the door’s not closed, but at the end of the day I like to go where I’m wanted.
“I’m wanted at MLW, I’m wanted at TNA and I’m wanted at NWA. People want me to be there to do the things that they know that I can do. I’m not just an ancillary character, and I never have been and I’m tired of being treated like that.”
Later in the same interview, AJ Francis spoke about how much buzz he has created since leaving the WWE. He claimed that the amount of interest he has drawn through his work is “crazy”. This is despite only recently wrestling his first match for TNA.
“I’m a star, and I’m in the process of showing you I’m a star. Think about the other guys that are killing it right now on the indies. The Mustafa Ali’s, the Matt Cardona’s. These guys that are making a killing on the indies. The Matt Riddle’s. All the guys, for the most part, have been wrestling way longer than me. All these guys have had way more matches than me, even on the indies since December.”
“The buzz I’ve created in the amount of matches I’ve had is crazy! I just had my first match in TNA this weekend, and that was my sixth TNA show, so the amount of buzz I was able to create without the matches – that’s something special.”
“People give a damn what I do. People care where I do it and what I do. That has always been the case. That’s why I can make a joke about sneakers and have half of wrestling getting ‘butthurt.’”
