AJ Francis (Fightful Wrestling Podcast): "I heard at the time that he [Santos Escobar] got re-signed, they wanted him real bad, and I was t..."

Fightful Wrestling Podcast · March 5, 2026 · 1h 5m

AJ Francis Join THE HUMP 3/4/26 w/ SRS

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Santos Escobar WWE status

I heard at the time that he [Santos Escobar] got re-signed, they wanted him real bad, and I was told he got re-signed for an amount of money of which they wouldn't possibly bench him, and then they benched him.

Lost match footage/AEW-Indie relations

Me and Hobbs had a match at Fourth Rope in Atlanta, and it never saw the light of day because there was not a finish because basically the story was Hobbs coming from AEW at the time, and obviously, AEW doesn't want any of their guys to lose on the Fourth Rope shows.

Backstage leaks/journalism

I would like to go on the record to know that all these stories you break from TNA are not coming from me. If it's something about AJ Francis, I told Sean. But if it has anything to do with anything else or anybody else, no, I have never told him anything.

Career impact and TNA influence

If you just check my track record of the people that I worked with over the last two years and where they were before we started working—from Joe Hendry to Rich Swann to Casey Navarro—I mean even Mike Santana on his run to the world title... I obviously didn't make Nick Nemeth, he made himself, but when Matt Hardy goes on Kai Cenat's Mafia-thon and he talks about two people in TNA, he talks about Mike Santana and AJ Francis.

Wrestling tropes/booking

I hate when you pin the champ to become the number one contender. I hate that shit. There are so many other wrestlers on the talent roster. Have them face another top talent.

Wrestling role/character

I'm the guy that you know, the final bad guy that never really runs the title, but when he is, it matters. That's my role. I'm Abyss.

Danhausen WWE potential

The reason why Danhausen is going to be successful in WWE is not just that he's a comedy act, but it's because he's marketable. Danhausen toys, Danhausen masks—those are the kind of things they can sell.

Battle rap career

I'm in the process right now, I'm trying to get another battle rap set up... I think I'm trying to get on URL.

Video game ratings/appearances

The more important one [rating] I would honestly say is Madden, but the cooler one to me was WWE 2K because they had to hire people to do my mannerisms, which I think was JTG, and they had to put my song in the game.