Former WWE star “would love” to return after 16 months at the Royal Rumble

A former WWE Superstar recently revealed that he would love to make a return to the Stamford-based company and compete in a Royal Rumble Match. The 2025 edition of the premium live event will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on February 1.

The professional wrestler in question is AJ Francis (FKA Top Dolla). He was released from the promotion in September last year. The 34-year-old is currently signed to TNA Wrestling.

During a recent interview on Wrestleholics, AJ Francis was asked if he would make an appearance in WWE owing to the global juggernaut's partnership with TNA, which allows talent crossovers between the two wrestling companies. The former Digital Media Champion responded in the affirmative, claiming he would love to do so. Francis added he was willing to participate in a Royal Rumble Match.

"I would love to do some work in NXT and go back to WWE. That would be great. I'd love to be in a Royal Rumble. But they got my number. They had it the two times they fired my a**," he said. [From 24:55 to 25:10]

You can check out AJ Francis' comments in the video below:

AJ Francis makes a bold claim about WWE's booking of Hit Row

During his time in WWE, AJ Francis wrestled as Top Dolla and was part of a group named Hit Row. B-Fab, Ashante Thee Adonis, and Swerve Strickland were the other members of the faction.

Speaking on Straight Talk Wrestling, AJ claimed the Stamford-based company could have done much more with Hit Row. The TNA star mentioned his former stablemates' impressive performances after they parted ways. He further stated that the wrestling promotion possibly regretted missing its opportunity to make the group work.

"Yeah, there was a lot of wasted opportunity. Look at what Swerve's doing in AEW, look what I've been doing in TNA, look what Ashante 'Thee' Adonis, look what he's doing in NXT, look at what B-Fab has been doing. [...] The people that are in WWE that ultimately made the decision to punt Hit Row are looking at it now like, 'Man, maybe we could have did more. Maybe we could have did something different. Maybe we could have gave them an actual chance,'" he said. [H/T: Fightful]

You can watch the interview in the video below:

AJ Francis challenged Nic Nemeth for the TNA World Championship at Final Resolution. Although the challenger put forth an impressive performance, the former Dolph Ziggler bettered the latter to retain his title.