Scrapped Plans for WWE NXT Star at TNA Slammiversary Revealed

AJ Francis has just revealed that originally, he was supposed to have a different tag team partner for TNA Slammiversary.

While speaking on the Ariel Helwani Show, AJ Francis recently revealed that there were backup plans in place for his tag team match at Slammiversary. Originally, Ashante Thee Adonis was almost set to be his partner.

Everything had been planned out in advance, just in case KC Navarro wasn’t cleared to wrestle due to an injury. That’s why AJ’s gear featured the faces of Tehuti Miles, Brianna, Rich Swann and KC Navarro because the final decision on who would team with him hadn’t been made yet.

Up until about a week and a half before the event, there was uncertainty. The two main options were to either have Ashante replace KC or bring back Rich Swann, who was part of the original First Class. AJ and Tommy Dreamer even worked on creative ideas to introduce either wrestler if KC couldn’t compete.

“People don’t know this, but Ashante Thee Adonis was almost my tag team partner last night at Slammiversary. We had the whole thing mapped out. If you look at my gear, it has Tehuti and Brianna’s faces on it, just like it has Rich Swann’s and KC’s faces—because KC was dealing with an injury, and we weren’t sure if he’d be able to go.

So the options were either Ashante would replace him, or I’d bring back Rich Swann, who was the original First Class member. I didn’t know who my tag team partner was going to be, so my gear had everybody on it. It probably wasn’t confirmed until like a week and a half ago that KC could do it. Before that, we didn’t know. Me and Tommy Dreamer were coming up with ideas to bring in Ashante or bring back Rich.”

One fun idea AJ Francis had was to do a skit like Druski’s “Criminal Records” videos. In the skit, Francis would sit at a table with KC nearby and two security guards behind him while he “auditioned” different wrestlers to join First Class, just to pick Ashante at the end.

Even if it didn’t happen on TV, he thought it would be good for social media to get people talking. But once KC said he was good to go, they went with him for the match.

“I had the idea that I was going to do my own version of the Criminal Records Druski skits—with me sitting at the table, KC sitting to the side, two security guards behind me, and I’m auditioning wrestlers to join First Class for Slammiversary, just to pick Ashante. Even if it wasn’t on TV, we were thinking of doing it on social media just to build buzz. But then KC Navarro said he could go—so we went with it.”

AJ Francis ultimately teamed up with KC Navarro in the four-way ladder match for the TNA Tag Team Titles at Slammiversary. While they didn’t get to win the match, many fans are now wondering if there will be a chance for Francis and Ashante to work together in the future as it would be a great reunion for them.

Would you like to see AJ Francis and Ashante Thee Adonis reunite in TNA? Sound off in the comments.

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