AJ Francis, formerly known as Top Dolla in WWE, believes the company’s Next In Line program could be quite beneficial if the college athletes under these contracts can master the art of promos.
Francis played college football for the University of Maryland, and he spent some time in the NFL from 2013-2018. He then signed with WWE in 2020 and debuted on NXT on May 4, 2021. As Top Dolla, he was a member of the Hit Row stable, which was briefly called up to SmackDown in October 2021 before the group was released in a wave of cuts in November.
During an appearance on Strictly Business with Eric Bischoff and Jon Alba, Francis discussed the NIL program and stated that he wished he had it when he was in college because it would have helped him from a financial perspective. He noted that making more money through the program could have made a substantial difference in his life.
“I love the NIL,” said Francis. “People try to s— on the NIL all the time. I wish that I had the NIL when I was in college. Do I think I would have made millions of dollars? No, I think that I would have made a couple hundred thousand dollars, though. I mean I was a big name at Maryland. I was, breaking news here, I didn’t listen to every NCAA rule, I got a couple things. So when I was in college, I could have made some good money in the NIL. Would I have made as much money as my teammate Stephon Diggs? Absolutely not, but that’s also because he would have been able to market himself better than I could have because he played wide receiver and he’s one of the best to ever do it. So there are different levels to which people can succeed. But you see like Oklahoma’s giving $50,000 to every kid that goes to their school.”
“Like do you know what I could been with $50,000? Do you understand, when I was in college that I used to have girls feed me on the weekend because my diner points were out and I couldn’t eat on the weekend unless I had someone to get food for me? The difference between that and actually having spending money to be able to invest in property, invest in stocks, to be able to actually try and open a business, actually put your teaching that you’re learning in college into action instead of just a degree on my wall that’s hanging right here. Like it would have been huge. And I love the fact that they do it in college now.”
A top score for Top Dolla!
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Francis then specifically described how the program could help WWE because college athletes look like wrestlers in the first place, so directly bringing them in while they’re still in their prime could make a notable impact.
“In respects to how they do it at WWE, I think it’s gonna be huge for WWE. Because first thing’s first, college athletes look like professional wrestlers. Like we see it a lot today where like you see a professional wrestler and he might be world champion of whatever company he’s on. But does he look, walking in Giant, the grocery store, are people like wow that guy’s a pro wrestler? Maybe, maybe not.
“Like you watch another athlete that you helped groom was Goldberg. Goldberg walks into any store and guess what, you’re like that guy is an asskicker. Still to this day and however old he is. So like I think that that aspect of the NIL, of them pulling kids right out of their college career in the prime physical shape of their life and then getting them to go into wrestling is gonna be huge.”
While he was optimistic about the NIL, Francis cautioned that the athletes will need to be able to be “wizards with the wands” if they want to excel in WWE. He referenced his own background as a college athlete and stated that he successfully transitioned to WWE, among other factors, because he can “talk all day.”
“Now here’s the thing though, as you can tell, I’m a wizard with the wand,” said Francis. “I can talk all day and I can throw big words out and I can make you seem like you’re listening to one thing while telling you a story about another. I can do that all day, every day. That’s the most important part of this business. I don’t give a damn how good you are as a wrestler. I don’t give a damn how good you are as an athlete, I don’t give a damn about none of that. Like yes I played in the NFL, and yes that did help me open doors and yes, that did show that I’m a top-tier level athlete. But the best thing that I bring to the table is my mic work. That’s the thing that actually makes money.
“So when you got some guys who don’t need to be able to talk because they’re just put in a good position and the company makes sure that that works and they work and everything works for them, but except for those two or three guys in every company, the guys that make money are the ones that are wizards with the wand. So are these athletes going to be able to do that part is the part that matters to be. Because you can be the best athlete in the world. You can be the best wrestler in the world. But if you can’t talk on the mic, you’re just a placeholder till the next guy shows up.”
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