A. J. Francis

Anthony Joseph Francis (born May 7, 1990) is an American professional wrestler and former American football player.

He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Top Dolla as a member of the stable Hit Row.

Francis played college football at Maryland.

He was signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2013 and has also played for the Seattle Seahawks and Washington Redskins.

After going un-drafted in the 2013 NFL Draft, Francis signed with the Miami Dolphins on April 30, 2013.

The New England Patriots claimed Francis off waivers on September 1, 2013.

He was released on September 7, only to be signed to the team's practice squad three days later.

Francis remained on the practice squad until being re-signed by the Dolphins in November.

On November 27, 2013, Francis was signed off the Patriots' practice squad.

Francis was put on injured reserve on August 27, 2014.

On November 14, 2015, he was waived by the Dolphins.

On November 16, 2015, Francis was acquired off waivers by the Seattle Seahawks.

On November 24, he was released by the team, but signed to the practice squad two days later.

On November 30, 2015, he chose to be promoted to the active roster in Seattle rather than re-signing with the Dolphins to their active roster.

On March 8, 2016, Francis signed his one-year exclusive-rights tender deal to return to Seattle.

He was waived on May 9, 2016.

On May 17, 2016, Francis signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

He was waived by the Buccaneers on September 3, 2016.

On October 12, 2016, Francis signed with the Washington Redskins.

He was promoted to the active roster on November 29, 2016.

He was waived on December 10, 2016, and was re-signed back to the practice squad.

Francis signed a futures contract with the Redskins on January 2, 2017.

On September 2, 2017, Francis was waived by the Redskins.

He was re-signed to their practice squad on October 18, 2017, and was promoted to the active roster the next day.

He was waived on October 25, 2017.

He was re-signed on November 21, 2017.

Francis was waived on April 30, 2018.

After his release, Francis publicly stated he was grateful that he was no longer a part of team due to the organization's lack of appreciation for him and adding his view that the team's mascot was racist.

On May 2, 2018, Francis signed with the New York Giants.

He was released on September 1, 2018.

Francis signed with WWE in January 2020.

Francis made his wrestling television debut on the May 4, 2021, episode of NXT where he aligned himself with Isaiah "Swerve" Scott by helping him defeat Leon Ruff in a Falls Count Anywhere match, establishing himself as a heel in the process.

The following week, Francis was introduced as Top Dolla and formed a new stable, Hit Row with Scott, Ashante "Thee" Adonis, and B-Fab.

Despite Top Dolla being drafted to SmackDown along with the rest of Hit Row as a part of the 2021 WWE Draft, B-Fab was released on November 4, and the rest of Hit Row were released 15 days later due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following his release from WWE, it was announced that Francis and the rest of Hit Row, minus Scott, would begin wrestling on the indies, under the team name, The HitMakerZ.

They would reunite at MCW’s Spring Break event, where Francis and Miles defeated Boom Hayden and Clay Jacobs.

At Game Changer Wrestling’s For The Culture event, Francis and Miles would lose to the team of Shane Taylor and O’Shay Edwards.

On the August 12, 2022, episode of SmackDown, Top Dolla made his unannounced return to WWE with Hit Row where he and Adonis (accompanied by B-Fab) defeated two local competitors.

On the December 16 episode of SmackDown, Top Dolla and Adonis won their first main roster championship opportunity for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship by defeating The Viking Raiders and Legado Del Fantasma in a triple threat tag team match but failed to defeat The Usos for the championship.