Adrian Hernandez recently caught up with former WWE star AJ Francis (Top Dolla). Francis was asked to give his thoughts on TNA/Anthem’s decision to fire Scott D’Amore.
“I had met Scott once before we did TNA Hard to Kill. I met him in the nine months between when we got released the first time and when we got brought back. Tommy Dreamer actually was the reason that I got brought in. So Tommy brings me in, I do the Hard to Kill pre-show with Joe Hendry, DJ Whoo Kid, and it blows up. It’s one of the biggest things that comes out of that show. Off of that one time alone, Scott was like, ‘We’re gonna keep bringing you back.’ I was supposed to do the pre-show thing and then I was supposed to have a match with Joe Hendry the next week in Orlando, so it was to be, like a three-show thing. Now we have already done four shows and we got at least six more already booked. So it’s like, this is a long term thing now.”
“The thing is, Scott took a chance on me when he didn’t have to. Scott believed in me and let me do commentary after literally only having me on his show for two days. He was like, ‘I heard you talk out there. I know you can do this. Go out there and do commentary.’ I still have a good relationship with Hunter. I was talking to him this week. Like, I still have a good relationship with Paul Heyman. I talk to him all the time. Michael Cole, I talk to him all the time. I still have a good relationship with a lot of people in WWE, but like, my talent wasn’t valued at WWE and that’s not me being sour grapes. I was getting squashed. I was never talking on the mic. There’s always been this common misconception about me and people say these dumbass things about me, and Scott didn’t let any of that noise affect what he saw with his own eyes. That’s why I got nothing but love and appreciation for him there. I just literally talked to him last night and was talking about what’s coming up in the future, and you know, I’m sure we’ll cross paths again.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Adrian Hernandez with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Quotes were transcribed by Jim for WrestlingNews.co.
