JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – If you excel at one thing professionally, society generally deems you a success.
Excel at two things, and everyone notices.
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But there are those select few who find success in three different areas.
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A.J. Francis is one of those people. Better known to WWE fans at one time as Top Dolla' the current TNA star has dominated everywhere he’s gone.
Francis excelled in football playing all over the NFL for the Dolphins, Seahawks and Redskins.
Then he decided to try his hand at pro wrestling and enrolled at the wrestling school in Orlando run by D-von Dudley.
“Literally two months after my last game in the NFL, I enrolled in wrestling school,” said Francis, who was trained by various wrestlers in the school. “The guys that put me through Hell were like Billy Gunn and Jay Rios.”
Soon enough he was off to WWE performing under the name Top Dolla'. Early on, he was in NXT and very close with Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, who fans know better today in AEW as Swerve Strickland.
But his time in WWE was cut short as numerous wrestlers ended up getting cut during the COVID pandemic.
So he was off to the independent circuit and eventually made his way to TNA, where he’s become one of the promotion’s top stars.
In fact this is a recent headline about Francis: “I Was A Laughingstock A Year Ago, Now I’m The Best Heel In Wrestling.”
The article was a buildup to a main event match with Nic Nemeth, another top star in the world. And that’s what Francis is becoming.
Foiled a few years ago by the pandemic but slowly working his way back to superstardom.
And with the recent partnership announced between TNA and WWE, who knows... maybe he will wind up back where he started.