AJ Francis and Anthony Henry debut on WWE NXT

A couple of debuts took place on this week’s episode of NXT.

– Former NFL player AJ Francis made his debut by aligning with Isaiah “Swerve” Scott on NXT tonight. Francis helped Scott defeat Leon Ruff in a falls count anywhere match.

Ruff and Scott were looking to settle their rivalry in the falls count anywhere match. Near the end of the match, Ruff was about to hit a dive onto Scott from a ladder that was set up near a production area. But Francis appeared, caught Ruff when he jumped off the ladder, and slammed Ruff onto the barricade.

Scott then threw Ruff back into the ring and hit the JML Driver to get the win.

Francis was identified by name on commentary and was called a member of Scott’s entourage. Scott, Francis, Ashante “Thee” Adonis, and Briana Brandy went backstage together after Scott’s win. Later in the show, Francis, Adonis, and Brandy were with Scott when he was interviewed backstage as they were leaving the building.

Brandy was also making her NXT TV debut tonight but wasn’t identified by name. She signed with WWE in August 2019 and is also a hip-hop musician.

It was announced in January 2020 that Francis had signed with WWE. He spent time with several NFL teams as a defensive tackle from 2013-2018.

Francis currently stars on WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures, which airs on A&E as part of WWE’s Sunday programming block on the channel. 

 – Anthony Henry also made his debut on NXT tonight. Henry, who is now using the name Asher Hale, lost to Cameron Grimes on tonight’s show.

Henry is a former EVOLVE Tag Team Champion. He was part of the group of WWE Performance Center signees that was announced this February.