Former WWE Star Explains Decision To Re-Sign With TNA Wrestling

WWE/TNA

Former WWE star AJ Francis has explained his decision to re-sign with TNA Wrestling after announcing he’s staying.

Following his WWE release in September 2023, AJ Francis signed with TNA Wrestling to start 2024, debuting at Hard To Kill in January. Since then, Francis has established himself as one of the top heels in the promotion and solidified “First Class” as one of the most prominently featured acts on television.

On December 31, Francis revealed to the Takedown on SI that he had re-signed with TNA Wrestling to stay with the company.

In this new interview with Sports Illustrated, AJ Francis explained his decision to re-sign with TNA. He said:

“TNA has taken care of me over the last year. A year ago, I wasn’t the most sought after free agent. A year ago, people thought I wasn’t going to wrestle anymore.”

“A year ago, people thought that my wrestling career might be done. And a year ago, TNA took me in for their very first show, Hard To Kill in (Las) Vegas.”

“That was the very first night that I interacted with Joe Hendry. One year later, Joe Hendry’s the biggest star in wrestling. He can still send me a box of cigars for that whenever he wants.”

“It’s been a blessing with the fact that TNA has done so much for me in the last year. Obviously, this is a business. It’s not called the wrestling friendship. It’s called the wrestling business. I always wanted to go back to TNA.”

Francis recently revealed that his TNA Wrestling deal was set to expire at the end of the year. On his options as a free agent, the former Top Dolla said:

“Even though over the past week, I’ve made it clear that I could go anywhere. There were feelers out for me potentially going over to AEW, maybe going back to NXT because I never really got a run in NXT, maybe go back to SmackDown.”

“Obviously going to Netflix for Raw would have been cool too. But there was a lot of options out on the table for me. TNA just feels like the best place for me.”

“TNA has always since the day that I got there changed people’s perception of me. My last match in TNA was for the TNA World Title, an absolute banger of a match in the main event of Final Resolution against Nic Nemeth.”

On how TNA Wrestling presented him as a top guy, Francis said:

“TNA, in one year, took me from someone that people pretended couldn’t wrestle to a bona fide main eventer to the best big man in the business.”

“If TNA could do that in one year, imagine what they could do in another year where I start the year as a bona fide main eventer. I’m very much happy with the decision to take my talents back to TNA.”

WrestleTalk would like to once again congratulate AJ Francis and TNA Wrestling on his re-signing.

BREAKING: TNA Wrestling Re-Signs @AJFrancis410!

Read more: https://t.co/BVDmn7RqUr pic.twitter.com/3yRc2DkDX7

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) December 31, 2024

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