Top Dolla Reveals Backstage Incident With WWE Producers Before Release
The former Hit Row man on a previously unreported backstage incident.
Hit Row were amongst the most surprising names to be released by WWE earlier this month, given that they'd only been on the company's main roster for a couple of weeks before the promotion started letting them go.
With B-Fab released by the promotion on 4 November, stablemates Ashante 'Thee' Adonis, Isaiah 'Swerve' Scott, and Top Dolla followed on WWE's last round of releases on 18 November. "Budget cuts" were cited as the reason in both cases.
Top Dolla's name has stayed in the news cycle over the past few days. Dave Meltzer reported in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the former NFL player had backstage heat in WWE, having "rubbed a ton of people the wrong way" in the company, prompting the following responses from the 31-year-old:-
Here’s what rubs people the wrong way.
-Standing up for your own. When Bri was released and I called the office myself to tell them they made a mistake. -Standing up for yourself. Ppl in the PC told me “Hit Row” wouldn’t work for a year and a half & I never took their advice. https://t.co/MFeHIjjCAx
Advertisement— A.J. Francis aka FRAN¢ (@AJFrancis410) November 19, 2021
TRUST ME I got plenty stories I can tell about how I was disrespected but just took it on the chin like a professional.
Even with the video I released today it was all professionalism. But I’m NOT gonna let these BS “reports” ruin my reputation.I got tea I can spill too. pic.twitter.com/gKlX3qdAHL
Advertisement— A.J. Francis aka FRAN¢ (@AJFrancis410) November 19, 2021
Now, in a new interview on Busted Open Radio (conducted with Adonis), Top Dolla has gone into detail on a previously undisclosed backstage incident ahead of the 5 November episode of SmackDown.
Hit Row's surviving members worked with Sami Zayn that night. While rehearsing, Top Dolla apparently politely asked the production team to turn the in-arena audio down a notch (h/t WrestlingNews.co):-
"When we were on SmackDown, we did the segment with Sami (Zayn). We were rehearsing the segment. The audio was really loud in the arena. I politely asked, ‘Do you think we can turn down the audio in the arena a little bit just so that the people in the arena, because they were playing music, so that the people in the arena could hear what we were saying and we could get a reaction from it.’"
This led to something being said over the headsets that was bad enough to warrant a personal apology from three other producers:-
"I don’t know what was said, but something was said about me over the headset that was so disrespectful, that three different producers who heard it on the headset came up to me and apologized to me afterwards, even though I didn’t even hear what was said. Clearly something was said that was very wild and disrespectful because they felt the need to apologize to me for something I didn’t even know. If I would have heard it and said anything back, then I’m disgruntled, and I’m aggressive, and I’m the angry black man."
Top Dolla continued, stating that as unfortunate as the way Hit Row's WWE ended turned out to be, he wasn't going to urge people not to watch the promotion's content:-
"It’s unfortunate the way that things shape out, but at the end of the day, I’m not telling nobody to never watch WWE again. I’m going to watch WWE. I’m not sitting here pretending that I’m not. I watch everything. But also, that’s not the end all, be all. That’s not where we have to be, to be successful. We are more than capable of going anywhere in this world and making the same impact.”
Hit Row, like the five other WWE wrestlers released on 18 November, will be free to work for other promotions once their 90-day non-compete clauses expire on 16 February 2022.