AJ Francis Talks To Fightful About His TNA Deal, Rich Swann, More (Patreon)

The new TNA Digital Champion, AJ Francis, spoke with Fightful Select for an exclusive interview.

Francis told Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp that things are going in the right direction since he departed from the WWE. Francis says he still has more to prove since leaving.

AJ mentioned that since joining TNA in January, he has brought more outside names to TNA and named former NFL star Shawne Merriman, DJ Whoo Kid, and social media influencers such as BDE and Shauniee Stylez. AJ says he likes being a bridge between pop culture and wrestling.

The former WWE Hit Row member told Sean he had plans to make digital content with BDE before winning the TNA Digital Media Championship. AJ said he knew he wanted to get BDE involved earlier when Francis found out he would be challenging Laredo Kid for the Digital Championship and winning it that same day. The video BDE would later post of them both was one that he posted and had over 500,000 views. It has over 493 thousand views on TikTok and over 200,000 on Youtube. AJ said, “It's just literally us playing rock paper scissors and me giving him a choke slam.”

Sean would ask AJ what it has been like for him to work with Rich Swann. AJ said, “I love Rich, man.” AJ added that he didn't know what Swann could do as a heel before working with him and mentioned that Swann is so good. AJ said he appreciates Swann so much and is so thankful. AJ would say, “First Class has been such a blast, and it's just the beginning.”

Sean mentioned that AJ was signed with TNA for the rest of 2024, and AJ confirmed, ”Absolutely. I love TNA man. TNA has been nothing but good to me, man. They give me opportunities, they give me the mic, they let me show who I really am. They let me show what I'm capable of, they put me in good positions and they listen to my ideas.”

When asked if AJ believes in Joe Hendry, AJ said, “I would never believe in Joe Hendry.” He added, “Because of me not believing in Joe Hendry is why everyone else does.”

AJ would also state, “I'm not saying I made him famous, but I'm saying there are a lot of people that tell me that they found out Joe Hendry who he was when he did the cheesy Champion video or when he did the ban from diving video.

In closing, Sean asked AJ who some of the people he wanted to face in TNA were. AJ mentioned PCO Chris Bey, Ace Austin, Mustafa Ali, Tommy Dreamer, and Rhino as names he would like to go against.

You can watch AJ Francis on TNA Impact every Thursday at 8 PM EST on AXS TV. You can also follow AJ on X at @AJFrancis410.