The Miami Dolphins are attempting to keep their slim hopes alive with a must-win road trip against the Houston Texans this weekend.
While the Dolphins have won five of their last six games since Tua Tagovailoa returned as QB, they fell into a hole during his four-game absence, and need to be perfect the remainder of the regular season for even a chance to snag one of the coveted AFC Wildcard spots.
But while Tagovailoa and the 2024 Dolphins’ squad fly to Houston on Friday night and get settled in their hotel, one of their former players is competing in the “biggest moment of his career.”
A.J. Francis — who admits he bounced around from team to team always finding himself on the roster bubble during his NFL career — is roughly 24 hours from the biggest moment since transitioning to pro wrestling, challenging Nic Nemeth for the Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling world championship on Friday night.
“Friday’s honestly the biggest moment of my career,” Francis told NFL.com ahead of his matchup at the Center Stage Theater in Atlanta and streaming on TNA+. “It’s my first world title match. Some people wrestle for 20-30 years and never get a world title match on the caliber of TNA. As far as world titles in wrestling, there’s not many as prominent, as historic, as important as the TNA world title. So, to be given the opportunity to even be in a match for it, is an honor and a privilege.”
Francis made his way into the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of Maryland, and from 2013 to 2018, the DL hopped around rosters spending time with the Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, Washington Commanders and the New York Giants.
Francis says former GM Giants GM Dave Gettleman changed the course of his career.
“I definitely played well enough to make the team, but, you know, Gettleman decided not to keep me,” Francis said. “And, if you ask any New York Giants fan, that’s not the only mistake he’s ever made.”
Francis believes the NFL opened doors for him to break into pro wrestling and is grateful for his journey.
“The NFL opened so many doors for me in wrestling,” Francis said. “Even before I got to WWE, I was getting booked on the indies like three, four months into wrestling training because they were booking me as, I was getting booked in D.C. as a former Commanders players. I was getting booked in South Florida as a former Dolphins player. Just the NFL helped me so much in my wrestling career, as well as obviously my media career.”
The former Miami Dolphins big man has the biggest match of his pro wrestling career on Friday night and he wouldn’t have it any other way.