A.J. Francis is the latest TNA name to jump into the Avery Styles “pay your dues” mess, and he made it clear he isn’t buying the criticism being aimed at AJ Styles’ son.
The argument started after Arik Cannon called Avery out over not helping tear down the ring following a GCW show in Minneapolis. AJ Styles defended his son by saying Avery was booked to wrestle, not work ring crew, and that defense quickly set off a much bigger debate over indie wrestling culture and what younger talent should be expected to do.
Francis stepped into the conversation on Twitter and pushed back hard on the idea that working indies automatically means someone has to handle ring setup and teardown. He pointed to his own NXT experience before drawing a very clear line between what he did in WWE and what he says he never did on the independent scene. Francis then made his stance on indie wrestling even more direct.
“Let me be clear, when I was in NXT I set up & broke down the ring on every coconut show I ever did…
I ain’t never once touched no ring on the indies and none of these bitch ass wrestlers would ever say anything to me about it. 🤌🏽💰💰💰”
That puts Francis firmly on the side arguing that “paying your dues” doesn’t have to mean doing ring crew at independent shows. His point is basically that he handled those responsibilities when he was part of a major developmental system, but never accepted that same expectation as some automatic requirement on the indies.
Francis now joins Moose in publicly pushing back against the criticism aimed at Avery, turning what started as a dispute over one GCW teardown into a wider argument over whether old-school indie expectations still make sense.
Do you agree with A.J. Francis that ring setup and teardown shouldn’t be treated as a mandatory part of “paying your dues” on the indies, or is that still part of earning respect? Let us know what you think in the comments.
