Tag: top dolla

Top Dolla says botched spot on WWE SmackDown ‘saved my life’

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Top Dolla says that his memorable “Flop Dolla” dive on SmackDown last year led to a revelation that saved his life.

AJ Francis, formerly known as Top Dolla in WWE, responded to a social media post on X memorializing the botched spot on the one-year anniversary of the event and says that because of it, he learned that was suffering from Type 2 diabetes. 

Francis wrote: 

The botch saved my life. I made that dive a dozen times before, legs felt off but I didn’t think about it. After I failed I went to the doc & found out I had Type II diabetes & my blood sugar was 626. I almost lost my life & was about to lose both feet. The botch saved my life.

Francis continued to discuss his health in subsequent replies to the post, noting that he currently does not require insulin injections, and speaking about the importance of proper medication: 

I thankfully don’t need insulin and hopefully never will but that could also change any day

The blood sugar was taken like a month later when I couldn’t put weight back on so I got my blood tested to get approved for TRT… knowing how I track my sugar levels now, the night of the botch it was prolly 250-300 which is still terrible

Proper medication changes EVERYTHING

Yes now I’m on Metformin, Glyburide & Gemfibrozil twice a day with meals

I’m properly medicated. 330 lbs again and I look the best I’ve ever looked in my life… 

Francis is a former NFL defensive lineman who originally signed with WWE in 2020. He made his in-ring WWE debut on the NXT brand in May 2021 as part of the Hit Row stable. Hit Row was called up to the SmackDown brand in October 2021, but Francis, Ashante “Thee” Adonis, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, and B-Fab were released by the company in November 2021. 

Francis, Adonis, and B-Fab were re-signed in August 2022 and returned to the company on the SmackDown brand as Hit Row. Francis would again be released by the company in September 2023. Adonis & B-Fab remain signed to WWE, while Swerve has since joined AEW as Swerve Strickland.

Francis has announced that he will be taking independent bookings beginning on January 1, 2024, and has already been announced for GCW’s Look at Me on January 26, 2024.

Daily Update: Eddie Kingston, Carmella, Top Dolla

Posted on by Bryan Rose

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

In this issue:

  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • Feds investigating Vince McMahon and more
  • AEW signings Kenny Omega, Young Bucks and Adam Page, lots behind it with comments from any going into details on the reason the decision was made, their pact to stay together and far more
  • WWE financials for quarter two, including why the next TV deal is taking longer to negotiate, how every sector of business is doing, USA Network with and without WWE and looks to the future
  • SummerSlam, why matches were changed, the huge Saturday night of events, ticket sales and more
  • Updating All In, where it stands on all-tie records, two straight weeks of PPV shows, the last time it happened and the history, rumored matches and more
  • G-1 Climax, what everyone needs to advance to the final eight, cards for the rest of the tournament and running down the shows from the past week
  • UFC 291 coverage, the stories behind the stories, what is next, business notes
  • NXT Great American Bash notes with full coverage
  • The life and times of Adrian Street, his death, his start, the famous photo, his U.K. heyday, why he came to the U.S., thinking wrestling was real, meeting Linda and his life after wrestling
  • The most detailed look at the television ratings for all the pro wrestling and MMA shows, including what the numbers mean, rankings, segment-by-segment and how shows are doing compared with one year ago.
  • Promotion shooting new star to the top
  • One of the best matches of the year in Mexico
  • Top pro wrestler worked as an Uber driver during the pandemic
  • Why Stardom is bringing back 80s and 90s legends
  • Wrestle Kingdom notes
  • Minoru Suzuki match in a unique location
  • Second generation star celebrates his 50th birthday on show this past week
  • Update on the number of homes and carriage rates for the shows that carry wrestling and MMA
  • More on a new television wrestling promotion starting in the fall
  • More matches on All In weekend in London
  • Who Giulia is likely defending her New Japan Strong title against next
  • Men’s All Japan Strong title match in Defy
  • Business of AEW and its value
  • Tony Khan talks business growth
  • Update on WBD business
  • Health updates on AEW & WWE wrestlers out of action
  • Paul Levesque and Tony Khan exchange words
  • International TV ratings
  • Streaming numbers
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
  • Top merchandise sellers in WWE & AEW
  • UFC pushing Slap Fighting at commission meeting
  • Dwayne Johnson buys a house for a UFC fighter
  • Backstage fight at show in Japan
  • Notes on Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz
  • Crawford-Spence PPV numbers
  • WWE returns to India and details on that
  • Kevin Owens talks future
  • Former WWE personality working in TV news
  • WWE house show notes

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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Tuesday Update

WWE

  • In an interview with People, Carmella said she plans on returning to WWE after her pregnancy, but isn’t rushing to return: “I for sure plan to come back,” she said. “I think it’s important to show you can have a baby and still have a career, especially a very physical one at that, but I’m not going to rush.”
  • TD Garden has a buy one, get one free offer for the September 8 episode of SmackDown.
  • Top Dolla reflected on the one year anniversary of Hit Row’s return to WWE on X: “Saturday will be One Year since we Returned on #SmackDown and in that year we’ve worked with the Shinsuke, Bobby Lashley, Bray, Ricochet, Sheamus, Braun, Drew, The Usos, The New Day, The Street Profits, LA, The OC, A.J. & many more great talent in the greatest company in the world… & got paid to do it.”
  • Sol Ruca and Dani Palmer have launched a YouTube channel.
  • WWE and The Boogeyman celebrate International Cat Day.
  • Fast X, which features John Cena, is out today on Blu-Ray and DVD.
  • Matches added to WWE’s YouTube channel today include Eve Torres vs. Kaitlyn from Survivor Series 2012, Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins from Hell in a Cell 2022, and The Rock vs. John Cena from WrestleMania 29.

AEW

  • A CM Punk Best in the World Trans Pride t-shirt has been released and will be available through August 22. 100% of the royalties will go to The Trevor Project.
  • The New York Post has an article on MJF’s recent babyface turn.
  • Samoa Joe talked to FanNation about his role in Twisted Metal.
  • CNBC reported that Warner Bros. Discovery is planning on simulcasting live games on Max starting in October.

Other Wrestling

  • Just one day prior to release, Skybound Games announced that WrestleQuest is being pushed back from August 8 to August 22: “When performing final checks on one of our launch platforms, we discovered it was possible for players to lose their save game progress when playing WrestleQuest on multiple different devices. Because this is a game filled with hours of content and player progress is so important, we could never bodyslam our fans like that. We are truly proud of this game and believe that we have a product that delivers on all counts. We’re blown away by the support we’ve seen from players excited for WrestleQuest and we can’t wait to share the finished game with everyone on August 22.”
  • The season finale of Dark Side of the Ring will premiere tonight at 10 pm ET, with the subject being Marty Jannetty.
  • NJPW World shot footage of Eddie Kingston meeting Toshiaki Kawada.
  • Tomohiro Ishii is making his Dragongate debut on August 20. He will team with Masaaki Mochizuki and Don Fuji to take on Yuki Yoshioka, Ben-K, and Strong Machine J.
  • The University of Nebraska at Kearney has an interview with Tyrus, an alumni.
  • Scott D’Amore of Impact Wrestling is celebrating his birthday today.
  • Game Changer Wrestling has added Violento Jack to their cards this coming weekend.

WWE’s Top Dolla: Hit Row was one of Triple H’s top priorities to bring back

Posted on by Josh Nason

The morning after their return to WWE, Hit Row’s Top Dolla spoke to Busted Open Radio about the process in bringing them back

Dolla (AJ Francis) said that he and Paul “Triple H” Levesque had kept in communication, even after the group was released and Levesque was no longer in WWE. He had sent Levesque clips of he and Ashante Adonis working indies and talked about working together again in the future.

Levesque reached out Wednesday of last week to gauge their interest in returning and how quickly they could be back. The three had a Zoom call with the new head of creative to discuss plans and then had physicals and contracts this week. 

“When (Levesque) got the reigns and is like, ‘I want to bring my guys back,’ we were one of his top priorities to get back because he knew what we could bring to the table. About a week and a half ago, he hit me up and was like, ‘How are the rest of the guys?’ ‘We’re good.’ None of us wasted time this whole time,” he said. “We never stopped training and never stopped being ready. He was like, ‘How fast can I act and get you guys here?’

Dolla, Adonis and B-Fab returned to action on Friday’s SmackDown with Dolla and Adonis picking a tag team win over two enhancement talents. The trio, in addition to then-team member Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, were released in November 2021, in one of WWE’s many rounds of pandemic cuts. Scott (Swerve Strickland) eventually signed with AEW and is one half of the AEW Tag Team Champions.

Dolla acknowledged some of the rumors that his interactions with Vince McMahon following B-Fab’s initial release were the reason for their eventual release.

“People love to say I’m hard to work with. I’m not. I’m hard to fool,” saying there were “a myriad of reasons” they were all released.

“Everyone in the world thinks they know who I am. Everyone in the world thinks I’m hard to work with. People who never worked with me had one conversation with me and felt they could talk down to me like I’m not a 30-year-old man. I told them about themselves and then they get in their buddies’ ears like I’m hard to work with. In actuality, I’m not hard to work with, I’m hard to fool. You can’t tell me something that’s not true and you’re not going to stand on. That’s how I was raised. If that makes me wrong, I’m going to be wrong forever,” he said.

He effused praise on Levesque for bringing all three talents back as there were a hundred wrestlers he could have done that with, a reference to all of the cuts WWE made over the past few years.

Regarding any previous heat, Dolla said Levesque told them he didn’t know what happened before and didn’t care, that it’s a new place and they have a clean slate on this second go-round.

“It was a breath of fresh air. I was down when we got released. Hit Row was hotter than anything in wrestling. Period. I don’t care who you are, get your feelings hurt if you want. When we got released, I feel we had something great and it turned into ashes in my hand. It made me stop watching wrestling for the first time in my life. I went eight months without watching wrestling,” he said.

Hit Row return to WWE on SmackDown

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Hit Row are officially back.

The former NXT stable appeared on tonight’s SmackDown. Top Dolla and Ashante “Thee” Adonis, accompanied by B-Fab, came to the ring for a squash match, which Dolla and Adonis quickly won. They then re-introduced themselves, with the group finishing the promo by saying they were the OG3.

PWInsider reported on Thursday that WWE were bringing in Adonis and Dolla for Friday’s SmackDown. However, it was unknown at the time if B-Fab would be brought in as well.

The group, along with Isaiah ‘Swerve’ Scott, formed Hit Row back in May of last year on the NXT brand. In October, they were drafted to SmackDown. However, B-Fab was released on November 4, and a few weeks later the rest of Hit Row were released on November 18. Scott has since reverted back to his Swerve Strickland name and signed with AEW earlier this year, where he is now one half of the AEW World Tag Team Champions with Keith Lee, who was also released from WWE last year.

Hit Row are the latest to be brought back to WWE in recent weeks, with Dakota Kai, Karrion Kross, Scarlett, and Dexter Lumis all making returns.

Wrestling Observer Live: NWA World Champion Trevor Murdoch, weekend preview

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez is back with tons to talk about including all the news from the last few days, mailbag questions, a whopping three no-shows, and a lesson — NEVER GIVE UP! 

NWA World Champion Trevor Murdoch joins us in the final segment to talk NWA’s 74th Anniversary Show and tons more. 

A fun show as always so check it out~!

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Report: WWE bringing back two released Hit Row members

Posted on by Ethan Renner

WWE is planning to bring back two members of the Hit Row group, according to a report. 

PW Insider reports that AJ “Top Dolla” Francis and Ashonte “Thee” Adonis are planned to be at Friday’s SmackDown taping in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

Top Dolla and Ashonte Adonis would be the latest WWE talent released by the former regime to be brought back by new executive vice president of talent relations Paul “Triple H” Levesque, joining Dakota Kai, Karrion Kross, Scarlett, and Dexter Lumis. 

As part of the Hit Row stable, Top Dolla and Ashonte Adonis were drafted to SmackDown in the WWE Draft along with B-Fab and Isaiah “Swerve” Scott on October 1, 2021. B-Fab was released by the company on November 4, 2021, while Top Dolla, Adonis, and Scott were released on November 18, 2021. 

Prior to their main roster call-up, Hit Row operated as a stable in NXT, debuting as a foursome in May 2021.

Scott has since signed with AEW and is one half of the company’s World Tag Team Champions, along with Keith Lee.

AJ Francis says he’s had ‘very good conversations’ with Impact Wrestling

Posted on by Ian Carey

AJ Francis (FKA Top Dolla) says he’s had discussions with Impact Wrestling. 

During a conversation with Sportskeeda, Francis revealed he spoke with representatives of the company over WrestleMania weekend. 

“Nobody knows this but we did WrestleCon at WrestleMania and Impact was at that hotel and I’m just saying that there was very good conversations had,” he said. 

“There’s still things that need to be looked at and worked out and a lot of discussions that still need to be had but The Hit Makers were in the building.”

Francis signed with WWE in January of 2020. He wouldn’t have his first match in the promotion until the May 18, 2021 edition of NXT. Along with the other members of Hit Row, he was called up to the main roster that October. He made his Smackdown debut on October 22, 2021 when he teamed with Isaiah Scott and defeated Daniel Williams & Dustin Lawyer. WWE would release him and the rest of the stable the following month. 

Top Dolla responds to report he ‘rubbed people wrong way’ in WWE

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Photo: WWE

A day after his release, the former “Top Dolla” AJ Francis has responded to a report in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that he “rubbed a ton of people the wrong way” in WWE. 

In covering the most recent round of WWE releases, Dave Meltzer wrote this of Francis:

“While he came across well on television, he rubbed a ton of people the wrong way in NXT and was getting the same reputation on the main roster.”

Francis quote-tweeted another site’s coverage of the report and responded with: 

“Here’s what rubs people the wrong way.

-Standing up for your own. When Bri was released and I called the office myself to tell them they made a mistake. 

-Standing up for yourself. Ppl in the PC told me “Hit Row” wouldn’t work for a year and a half & I never took their advice.”

Francis continued his statement in a tweet thread:

“TRUST ME I got plenty stories I can tell about how I was disrespected but just took it on the chin like a professional. 

Even with the video I released today it was all professionalism. But I’m NOT gonna let these BS “reports” ruin my reputation.

I got tea I can spill too.”

The video Francis references is a rap he released today that references the 89 days left in his non-compete window following his WWE release and name-checks a series of wrestling companies he would be interested in signing with once the window closes. 

In addition to his NXT and WWE run with Hit Row, Francis was a character on WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures series that aired on A&E from April 2021 to June 2021. 

Francis is holding a canned food drive this weekend at the University of Maryland in College Park. 

Isaiah ‘Swerve’ Scott introduces Hit Row stable on WWE NXT

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Isaiah “Swerve” Scott introduced his new group, Hit Row, on tonight’s NXT.

Hit Row consists of Scott, two other men, and one woman. AJ Francis, who has appeared on A&E’s WWE show Most Wanted Treasures, introduced himself as Top Dolla. Brianna Brandy, who signed with WWE in 2019, introduced herself as B-Fab. Rounding out the group is Ashante “Thee” Adonis, who has appeared regularly on 205 Live in the last year and has been aligned with Scott in the past. During the promo introducing the group, Swerve said he was tired of not being himself and wanted to be around people who think like him.

Members of Hit Row have previously been seen in vignettes, but officially made their debut at the Capitol Wrestling Center last week. Swerve faced Leon Ruff in a Falls Count Anywhere match. Ruff was about to launch off a platform, but Top Dolla grabbed him before he could land and slammed him on the barricade instead, leading Scott to pick up the win.

WWE had trademarked the term “Hit Row Records” on May 6.