AJ Francis exclusively confirmed with Sports Illustrated’s The Takedown, he signed a new contract to remain with TNA Wrestling. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Francis’ last appearance with TNA Wrestling was the Final Resolution pay-per-view special on December 13 where he was unsuccessful in winning the TNA World Heavyweight Title from Nic Nemeth. He also appeared on the TV tapings that followed. The report also notes that Francis opened up a lot of eyes of TNA Management with his good performance.
In an interview with The Takedown, Francis gave him main reason for re-signing with TNA Wrestling.
“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. 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.”
His previous deal with TNA Wrestling was set to expire on January 1, 2025.
Francis appeared as the Grand Marshall of Tuesday’s Cheez-It Citrus Bowl between Illinois and South Carolina and is the holder of the Cheez-It title belt. He was also backstage at last Saturday’s AEW Worlds End pay-per-view in Orlando, Florida visiting friends.
