AJ Francis Praises TNA President Carlos Silva, Credits Him For AMC Television Deal

AJ Francis has voiced high praise for TNA Wrestling President Carlos Silva, crediting his sports-oriented leadership style with modernizing the promotion’s operations and securing its major television agreement with AMC.

Speaking in an interview with Justin Dhillon on The Wrestling Classic, Francis drew a sharp contrast between Silva’s executive leadership and traditional professional wrestling management. According to Francis, Silva brings a real-sports mentality to talent evaluation and business development:

His leadership style is more so of real sports. He doesn’t ignore what’s right in front of his face. It’s a damn shame that it’s been two years since I’ve been a champion in TNA. And Carlos recognizes that.

Francis went on to criticize outdated industry habits regarding title pushes, arguing that older management styles often prioritized unproven acts over reliable draws:

The old wrestling leadership style would be like, ‘Well, he’s still got a lot to prove, but let’s put a title on this guy who’s been here six months who nobody gives a sh*t about.’ Like that’s the old wrestling style. And Carlos recognizes what’s in front of his face.

Highlighting Silva’s broader impact on TNA’s business structure, Francis emphasized that critics and outside observers often overlook the president’s role in securing the company’s broadcast deal with AMC:

I think just the leadership style has changed. I think the old leadership style was much more old-timey pro wrestling and I love how Carlos runs TNA. There’s all these people that have no real insight on how the company’s run or how the great things that Carlos has brought.

Francis specifically attributed TNA’s television deal to Silva’s executive background:

Carlos is the reason we got a TV deal. We’re on AMC because of the work of Carlos.

Calling Silva his favorite boss across his professional career, Francis added:

That’s huge, right? And so to have someone like that at the helm that I can, I mean I talked to him today, he’s my favorite boss I ever worked for and I think that having him at the helm has been such a big help, such an improvement.