Hit Row member Top Dolla made his way from the world of football to professional wrestling. It did not take Top Dolla too long before he understood how things went about in WWE. Dolla found his footing in NXT before making his way to the main roster. However, Top Dolla doesn’t look back fondly at his WWE release.

Top Dolla was seen as the leader of Hit Row due to his impressive mic skills and well-liked diss tracks. He was eventually released alongside fellow Hit Row members last year, but that hiatus didn’t last long.

After Triple H took charge of WWE’s creative direction, Top Dolla and the rest of his group returned to the company, except for Swerve Strickland, who is now with AEW. While speaking on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, Top Dolla stated that he felt like his time in NXT was an absolute waste, after his release.

“Um, disappointment. Like shame. I’ve worked to get to that point and like we had the fastest call up ever in NXT history, to then be released a month later. Well, honestly, I didn’t know that this would happen. I had no assurances that I’d be back at WWE again. So I felt like maybe the two years that I had spent in NXT getting to that point was just a waste of my time because I was gonna have to go do something else now.”

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“What ended up happening, which was a blessing, was the fact that I always stayed in contact with Hunter. We didn’t talk wrestling all the time. We just talked every once a while about random things. When he obviously got back in charge, I saw him bring Dakota and IYO back, and I was like, ‘Oh, okay, all right, cool. So he’s bringing people back. I was like, maybe he’ll bring us back. But I don’t know how he feels. I don’t know what he’s trying to accomplish. I don’t know what he’s doing.’ Then like, two days later, he calls me and I’m like, ‘Oh, okay, yeah, let’s do it. I’m ready. Let’s rock.'”

“When we first got released, it was tough. I was genuinely depressed, like, I had spent my entire life looking for a chance to get an opportunity to be on SmackDown, to be on RAW. Then I got there and then a month later, it got taken out from underneath me. So it was like one of the worst experiences and times of my life.”

Hit Row came back in August and since then, they have been a highlight of Friday Night Smackdown. We will have to wait and see whether the faction will achieve some success or not.

Do you feel bad for Top Dolla? Sound off in the comments!

Subhojeet Mukherjee

Subhojeet, a professional wrestling fan for over 20+ years, found his passion during the Monday Night Wars. With expertise honed over decades and a broad spectrum of interests including TV, movies, anime, novels, and music, he offers insightful analysis and coverage. Respected in the industry, Subhojeet keeps fans informed and engaged with his knowledge and perspective.

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