Top Dolla Reveals When He Found Out Hit Row Was Returning To WWE

Hit Row is back where they belong.

The popular faction returned to "WWE SmackDown" on Friday, less than a year after their release from the company in 2021. Hit Row member AJ "Top Dolla" Francis was on a recent edition of Busted Open Radio and explained how his persistence paid off.

"I'm talking to Hunter," Top Dolla began. "Even when Hunter was not in charge of 'NXT' anymore, even when we went up to 'SmackDown', I never stopped talking to Hunter. When we got released, I never stopped talking to Hunter. So we talked a lot already about hopefully working together in the future. I was sending him clips of the stuff we were doing."

Top Dolla listed the numerous promotions that the trio worked for in various capacities since their release, explaining that Triple H was the one that added Shane Strickland (then Isaiah Scott) to the group, saying the then-head of "NXT" saw something special in the group and wanted to capitalize. 

"Hunter saw what we did when it was just the three of us."

Top Dolla called Hit Row one of Triple H's "top priorities because he knew what we could bring to the table." 

According to Top Dolla, Triple H reached out a little over a week before the group's return on August 12.

"'How fast can I get you guys here?'" Top Dolla recalled Triple H asking. "And this was Wednesday of last week, and we were like, 'If you want us there, we can be there tomorrow.' We ended up having a Zoom call with him and just planned out what was gonna happen. Did physicals and contracts and all that." 

By Friday, Hit Row was getting the win over a pair of local competitors.

"There's a million people Hunter could've brought back," Top Dolla said. "The list is literally hundreds of performers."

"That made me feel not just special but great."