AJ Francis Signs New Contract with TNA

TNA Wrestling announced that AJ Francis recently signed a new contract to remain in the company for the foreseeable future.

Official press release:

TNA Wrestling Re-signs A.J. Francis

TNA Wrestling confirmed today that it has re-signed A.J. Francis, as first reported by Sports Illustrated.

The former NFL player had quite the year in 2024, attacking Joe Hendry during his January debut and battling Nic Nemeth in December for the TNA World Championship at Final Resolution in Atlanta. The leader of Fir$t Cla$$, Francis won the TNA Digital Media Championship in June from Laredo Kid, his first title win in TNA. He also bought the Canadian International Heavyweight Championship, a title that was promoted in Canada for many years and had been retired since 1987, thus becoming a double champion in the process.

Francis played college football at Maryland, then was signed by the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. His pro football career also included time with the Seattle Seahawks and Washington Redskins, among others.

Francis is in Orlando, Florida today, in conjunction with the annual Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, where the South Carolina Gamecocks battle the Illinois Fighting Illini. The game kicks off at 3 p.m. ET at Camping World Stadium and will air live on ABC, marking the first-ever football game between the Gamecocks and the Illini. The seventh-oldest collegiate bowl game in the country, the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl began as the Tangerine Bowl in 1947.

A.J. Francis is the Cheez-It Champion with its MVP Title.

TNA Wrestling presents Genesis on Sunday, January 19, at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas, part of the Dallas Metroplex. Tickets are on-sale at curtisculwellcenter.com.

Then, Francis and the stars of TNA Wrestling travel south to San Antonio for two live events. The action in the Alamo City features a LIVE episode of TNA’s flagship weekly TV show, iMPACT! on AXS TV on Thursday, January 23, originating from the Boeing Center at Tech Port. The TNA stars return to the Boeing Center at Tech Port on Friday, January 24, when all matches will be taped for future episodes of TNA iMPACT! on AXS TV in the U.S.

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Francis gave his thoughts about his decision to sign a new deal with TNA to stay in the company.

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

Francis has been signed with TNA since January of 2024.