Top Dolla Originally Wanted Lio Rush In Hit Row Before His Release

Hit Row came together on the May 4 episode of NXT when Top Dolla helped Isaiah “Swerve” Scott defeat Leon Ruff. 

Top Dolla (AJ Francis) was signed by WWE in January 2020 and when he came into the Performance Center, he had the idea for Hit Row ready to go. 

“I came to WWE with this idea and when I first got here, I actually wanted to do the faction with Swerve and Lio Rush because I knew they both rapped,” Top Dolla said on After The Bell. “Lio got released and Swerve was doing the character he was doing. I was like, ‘Let me focus on myself.’ Ryan Katz, who works in the Performance Center, he sends me a text message that reads, ‘What do you think about working with Tehuti (Miles) [Ashante ‘Thee’ Adonis]?’ I could still do the record label thing and making music and then we could be a tag and it would be great. We did that for a year in the PC and we were known as the Hit Makers. Everybody loved it and it was the same thing we were doing now, the only difference was, I did WWE Most Wanted Treasures show and three days after it debuted, Hunter pulled me and Swerve aside and said, ‘What do you think about Swerve joining with you guys?’ Swerve didn’t know that I wanted him from the beginning. When he asked, I was like, ‘that would be awesome.’ Not only is he a rapper, but he brings something difference to the table and has traveled the world wrestling. It immediately answers the question, ‘can these guys wrestle?’ As if that even matters. Swerve was down with it. Two weeks later, I caught Leon Ruff off the ladder and we were off the races.”

Lio Rush was released by the company in April 2020. 

Hit Row was moved to WWE SmackDown during the 2021 WWE Draft. Top Dolla made his SmackDown in-ring debut on October 22 episode, teaming with “Swerve” to defeat Daniel Williams & Dustin Lawyer. 

Hit Row took a hit on Thursday when it was reported B-Fab was released by the company. 

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