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AJ Francis recently recalled how WWE abruptly nixed plans for his Hit Row faction to feud with The New Day on SmackDown.
Hit Row consisted of Francis (Top Dolla), Briana Brandy (B-Fab), Ashante “Thee” Adonis, and Isaiah “Swerve” Scott. The quartet received their releases last year shortly after being called up to SmackDown in the WWE Draft.
Speaking on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, Francis said Xavier Woods requested to work with Hit Row. WWE’s decision-makers originally agreed to the idea before quickly moving in another direction.
“We’re like, ‘Hell yeah, we’re down to work with The New Day.’ Why wouldn’t we wanna be working with The New Day, right? The week after that it was like, ‘All right, you guys are gonna do backstage in front of the audience segment with Sami Zayn,’” Francis said. [19:10-19:22]
Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods welcomed Hit Row to the main roster in a backstage segment on the October 29, 2021, episode of SmackDown. Hit Row bowed down to Woods, the 2021 King of the Ring winner, and repeatedly sang his name before he made his entrance.
Sami Zayn made a suggestion before his WWE segment with Hit Row
A week after their interaction with The New Day, Hit Row took part in a short segment with Sami Zayn on the entrance ramp. The segment ended with Zayn escaping to the backstage area after Hit Row encouraged WWE fans to chant, “Sami s*cks!”
Reflecting on that moment, AJ Francis said he originally left out the closing line of the promo because he did not want to offend Zayn:
“I don’t want my first promo with Sami Zayn to end with saying Sami s*cks. I don’t want him to take that the wrong way. So I take it out. And Sami, being the consummate professional, when we put it all together, Sami’s like, ‘I like how you ended it, but what if you ended it with Sami s*cks?’ and I was like, ‘That’s a great idea, Sami!’” [20:07-20:30]
WWE released Briana Brandy on November 4, 2021, a day before Hit Row’s segment with Zayn. The remaining three members of the group were also let go by the company on November 19, 2021.
Please credit the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling if you use quotes from this article.
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