AJ Francis on His Ladder Bump at TNA Slammiversary 2025 Being “The Gnarliest Bump Ever”

This past July’s TNA Slammiversary 2025 event in Elmont, New York was notable for a spot involving AJ Francis taking a bump off of a ladder and crotching himself onto another ladder on the outside during the TNA World Tag Team Championship Four-way Ladder match. This match had featured The Hardys (Matt & Jeff Hardy), The Rascalz (Myron Reed & Zachary Wentz), First Cla$$ (A.J. Francis & K.C. Navarro), and The Nemeths (Ryan & Nic Nemeth).

A recent episode of the Battleground Podcast featured Francis as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Francis’ thoughts about his ladder bump spot at TNA Slammiversary being the “gnarliest bump ever.”

“So, I can give you a play-by-play breakdown. I actually haven’t done this on anybody’s show. So, what actually happened was K.C. (Navarro) was legitimately hurt and is legitimately hurt. So, at that spot, in the back, they were telling the refs and eventually told Myron (Reed), ‘Don’t let K.C. take the bump…’ As we’re climbing the ladder, I’m hearing Myron tell K.C., ‘Yo, they don’t want you to take the bump, they don’t want you to take the bump,’ and K.C. says, and I quote, ‘Just push the f*cking ladder, bro.’ But as this conversation’s going on, I’m watching them and I’m not paying attention to the fact that one of my feet is not on the rung it needs to be. So when the ladder’s being pushed, I realized, oh sh*t, I’m gonna trip on this rope if I don’t jump over it. So I jumped over it and at that point, I’m just trying not to die… I literally actually land on my feet, but just roll through with it on the ladder. But it’s the gnarliest bump ever and it’s crazy because… people have talked about it for so much and it’s like, I add so much to an already great match to take that bump. Especially after the moonsault I did right before then. But, then, everyone’s like, ‘A.J., are you okay!? Are you okay? Are you okay? Are you okay?’ And I’m perfectly fine but, K.C.’s actually hurt. But everyone’s asking me if I’m okay. So that’s why it’s crazy to me.

I knew that was my last spot. So, I didn’t have to do anything after that anyway and I knew that. Once I took the bump, you know, you land and you’re like, ‘I’m alright,’ and as I’m realizing, I’m like, yo, my feet went right through the ladder. This is crazy. I bet this looks nuts. So then I, as I’m selling, get into position so I can see the jumbotron and I look up at the jumbotron and they do the replay and I’m like, oh, everyone thinks I’m dead. I’m like, ‘This is awesome.’ Everyone thinks I’m dead. I’m perfectly fine. So then now I just crawl over to K.C. and I’m like, ‘Yo, you good?’ He’s like, ‘Nah bro, I’m not.’”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com