Hit Row Reveals Recent WWE Plans, Talk Getting Released

Hit Row members Top Dolla (AJ Francis) and Ashante "Thee" Adonis (Tehuti Miles) appeared today on Busted Open. Along with Isiah "Swerve" Scott, the duo was among the WWE cuts earlier this week.

When asked about how the releases happened, Adonis said plans for this week's SmackDown, Survivor Series, and RAW changed numerous times before getting the call from John Laurinaitis.

"Thursday morning was a little weird because we were booked for SmackDown, Survivor Series and RAW and then we were unbooked," Adonis recalled. "They booked us again and then we were unbooked. So, I'm like, 'Okay, this is what goes on in WWE, there's a lot of things to figure out.' I was like, 'Oh, okay, maybe they'll have something for us and we'll fly out Saturday or something like that.' But I remember watching Thursday night football and I missed the call from John Laurinaitis. I called him back, he told me budget cuts and stuff like that, and I was like, 'thank you.' It is what it is."

The Hit Row members had also just made a visit to WWE Headquarters and were informed action figures were on the way.

"We just went to [WWE] HQ, met everybody, and talked to everybody," Francis said. "Talked about how we're going to get action figures and talked about how we were going to be big deal, and seeing the [WWE 2K22] video game. All these different things and everything got pulled out from underneath us."

Francis continued that he knew they were going to get released after WWE unbooked them. He noted something similar happened with B-FAB when she was let go earlier this month. The group was scheduled to do a Black Friday commercial, but without her. Shortly after, she was released.

AJ Francis also commented on his deleted diss track after receiving backlash on social media. Francis said Jinder Mahal himself was involved in the process and "loved the song."

Ultimately, Francis isn't going to tell fans to not watch WWE and is instead looking to make an impact elsewhere.

"It's unfortunate the way things shape out, but at the end of the day, I'm not telling nobody to not watch WWE again," Francis stated. "I'm not tellin' nobody to never watch WWE again. I'm going to watch WWE — I'm not pretending that I'm not — I watch everything, but also, that's not the end-all, be-all. That's not where we have to be successful. We are more than capable of going anywhere in this world and making the same impact."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Busted Open with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.