How recent diagnosis affects AJ Francis' in-ring preparation (Exclusive)

AJ Francis recently explained how he altered his pre-match wrestling routine after finding out he has type 2 diabetes.

Francis performed as Top Dolla in WWE before receiving his release in September 2023. The 33-year-old visited a doctor shortly after his infamous botched dive over the top rope. The doctor told him he could have lost his life and both feet due to his high blood sugar level.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda Wrestling's Riju Dasgupta, Francis said he has to be careful about when he eats before shows:

"A real tough thing dealing with is the fact that you gotta plan out your meals very well, and on days that I actually have matches, I don't like to eat too soon before the match because when that sits on your stomach, you take the wrong bump, that could be a really wrong bump. You know what I'm saying?" [From 02:02 – 02:27]

AJ Francis received a lot of support online after opening up about his diabetes diagnosis. The former Hit Row member added that his knees are no longer in as much pain as they used to be:

"One big thing is that being able to plan out how you're gonna structure your meals that day, as well as diabetic neuropathy is something that I deal with, that I have to take medication for," Francis continued. "Tingling in the toes and your feet and whatnot. It used to be all the way up to my knees, so now it's much better. Things like that are very tough to work around." [From 02:32 – 03:01]

Watch the video above to hear Francis' response to Jim Cornette following the WWE veteran's recent derogatory remarks about him.

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AJ Francis is still one of the strongest men in wrestling

Before becoming a wrestler, AJ Francis played football for several years. He also wrestled on the independent scene before having two spells with WWE.

Despite his health issues, Francis believes he is still one of the strongest men in the wrestling industry today:

"From somebody who was a top-tier athlete their whole life, to have to kind of dumb down the things that you can do, which the things that I can do power-wise are still more than 99.9 percent of humans on Earth, but instead of being an athletic big man, just being the big powerhouse big man like I really am, you gotta taper down what you do, as well as how you put a match together." [From 03:05 – 03:37]

AJ Francis, now known as Dolla, is set to return to the independent scene following his WWE departure. He will wrestle for Coastal Championship Wrestling (CCW) on January 6 and Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) on January 26.

"When I was in peak form, there wasn't nothing I wouldn't do, nothing I wouldn't try," Francis said. "And if you fail, you fail. I'm at the point now where I go out of my way to try to make sure that everything is going to be 100 before I do it. Even still at that GCW show I'm gonna be doing some crazy s**t, but it's different levels now. It's different levels." [From 03:41 – 04:13]

Francis' final televised WWE match ended in defeat against LA Knight on the August 11, 2023, episode of SmackDown.

What would you like to see next from AJ Francis? Let us know in the comments section below.

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