Former Miami Dolphins defensive tackle AJ Francis, who played for the Dolphins between 2013 to 2015 has been released by the WWE. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com reported Francis (who wrestled under the name Top Dolla) was let go in the latest round of WWE releases on Thursday evening. WWE said budget cuts were the reason for having to let go of some of it’s talent.

Francis was active and played in one game as a member of the Dolphins between 2013-2015. During his entire NFL career, he played in 9 games total, registering 20 total tackles and no sacks. Francis was signed by the WWE in January of 2020 and made his TV debut on NXT (the development brand of WWE) in May of 2021. Francis also hosted WWE’s MOST WANTED TREASURES on A&E.

Just a few weeks back Francis was called up to WWE’s Smackdown Brand which is broadcast every Friday night on FOX TV and is the most-watched wrestling show in the world. He made only a handful of appearances on Smackdown before being let go.

UPDATE: According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Dave Meltzer, Top Dolla “rubbed a ton of people the wrong way” while he was a member of the NXT roster and he was starting to gain the same reputation on Friday Night SmackDown. Meltzer stated that once WWE decided to let Francis go, it “pretty much doomed” the remaining members of Hit Row as Francis was the individual who Vince McMahon saw as a potential future star.

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