AJ Francis Blasts Dave Meltzer For Lying About Having Heat During WWE Run

AJ Francis has jumped into the growing conversation surrounding Logan Paul challenging NFL players to fight — and his comments quickly sparked a response from Dave Meltzer.

The discussion began after Paul revealed that WWE stepped in and shut down his open challenge to NFL players to step into the boxing ring. Paul claimed company officials contacted him and told him he was too valuable to risk fighting football players.

While that situation was already drawing attention online, Francis — formerly known in WWE as Top Dolla — added fuel to the debate with a blunt take about athletes in wrestling. Posting on social media on March 8, 2026, Francis shared his opinion about the ongoing “wrestlers vs. football players” debate.

“HOT TAKE: A lot of wrestlers aren’t great athletes. This ‘wrestlers aren’t real athletes’ from an NFL Pro Bowler isn’t a crazy claim.”

Those comments quickly caught the attention of Meltzer, who responded by quote-tweeting Francis and expressing surprise that an active wrestler would publicly say something like that.

“Not sure I was expecting in my lifetime an active pro wrestler publicly arguing for the idea wrestlers aren't real athletes. Even though it's inarguable that some wrestlers aren't great athletes. Many are as well.”

Francis then fired back directly at Meltzer with a much sharper response.

“You once ran with a FAKE story about me being a bad person that you either got from a liar or made up yourself when I got released from WWE. That was the same day as my canned food drive feeding HOMELESS CHILDREN. Until you wanna talk about that, don’t talk to me about s*it.”

The exchange is the latest chapter in a long-running dynamic between Francis and Meltzer. In the past, Meltzer pushed a narrative suggesting there were issues between Francis and WWE during his time with the company. However, when Ringside News previously spoke to a WWE source about the matter, we were told there were never any problems involving Francis and that Meltzer’s claims were inaccurate.

Now Francis finds himself once again trading shots with the longtime wrestling reporter — this time in the middle of a larger debate sparked by Logan Paul’s comments about NFL players and fighting ability.

Do you agree with AJ Francis’ take about wrestlers and athleticism, or do you think he went too far with the comments? Let us know your thoughts and leave your feedback in the comments.