AJ Francis Credits Steve Corino For Teased Dive On WWE NXT

AJ Francis trolled fans on last week’s WWE NXT by teasing a dive over the ropes, and he says it was Steve Corino’s idea. Tuesday’s show saw AJ Francis team with Wes Lee and Trick Williams against Josh Briggs, Yoshiki Inamura, and Elijah, with the babyfaces picking up the win. During the match, Francis teased a dive over the ropes that referenced his famed miss dive from his days on Smackdown but stopped short. Francis appeared on Muscle Memory with MuscleManMalcolm and said that Corino came up with the idea.

“I didn’t think of the spot actually,” Francis said (h/t to Fightful). “That was Steve Corino. Steve Corino wanted me to do the dive, and I told him, I’ll never do the dive again, except at WrestleMania. You know, since all these people want to pretend that that’s the only thing I’ve ever accomplished in my life is is fucking up that dive. They don’t have the same energy for Vikingo, who did it more recently than me. They don’t have the same energy for Jey Uso, who did it more recently than me. They don’t have the same energy for a lot of people that have done it more recently than me. They just are dick eaters and go out of their way to try to make it the only thing I’ve ever done,” he said. “I’ve main-evented two TNA pay-per-views in the last six calendar months, I’ve made Superstars like Joe Hendry in the last year. I’ve helped make First Class the greatest team in TNA, as well as made myself the best big man in the business, bar none, and that’s all people want to talk about.”

He continued, “So, Steve Corino comes up with the idea. I said, ‘Well, instead of actually doing the dive, which I’ll never do again until WrestleMania, instead, how about I fake like I’m gonna do the dive and then I troll the audience?’ I was gonna go out and do [a more direct gesture] to the audience after I didn’t do the dive. Shawn Michaels was like, ‘Can’t do that on TV.’ So I was like, ‘Alright, I’ll just point at them and laugh.’ That’s fine. That’s fair. It came off really well. It was a great spot. It was a great break spot, going into commercial. Obviously, WWE posted it on all their social media. So, they appreciated it, too. It was a good thing. So, shout out Steve Corino,”

Francis battled Mike Santana on last week’s TNA Impact in a Street Fight and ended up losing the match.