TNA Re-Signs AJ Francis

AJ Francis has signed a new deal with TNA Wrestling, capping off a strong debut year in the company for the former WWE star.

Since joining TNA at Hard to Kill in January 2024, Francis has reigned as Digital Media Champion and has competed for the TNA World Championship, and during a conversation with Sports Illustrated's The Takedown the Fir$t Cla$$ leader explained why he has re-signed with the promotion:

“TNA has taken care of me over the last year,” said Franics. “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.

“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.”

Francis insinuated during the course of the interview that he has signed on for another year. Francis' previous deal is believed to have expired in the past week.

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