Going into 2025, TNA star Leon Slater seemed poised to break out from being a promising UK prospect. That’s exactly what he did; as the year comes to a close, Slater finds himself as the youngest TNA X-Division Champion in history, is set to challenge for the NXT Championship at New Year’s Evil to start 2026, and this past weekend teamed with Je’Von Evans to face AJ Styles and Dragon Lee at Saturday Night’s Main Event, which was also the site of John Cena’s last ever match.
Appearing on “TheA2theK Wrestling Show” just days before SNME, Slater was asked about his breakout year and his X-Division Championship win back in the summer. The 21 year old acknowledged that everything was a bit of a blur in some regards.
“It’s been crazy man,” Slater said. “Like, even just zooming in on that moment itself…forgetting the AJ Styles stuff happens afterwards, forgetting the whole run that I’ve been on. Like, just the moment of becoming the youngest X-Division Champion of all time, with my family in the crowd in a big, big arena, which at the time was the most attended Slammiversary, you know?
“It’s one of those things where you always kind of picture it and you always see it, for myself I did at least. And I almost liken it to the birth of your first child, you know what I’m saying? You always imagine what it would be like to have your son, have your daughter, and when they finally come there, it’s like ‘Oh. Well, what the hell do I do now?’ So it was a very, very surreal moment, and I’m glad I was surrounded by such good people when it happened.”
Slater Calls John Cena The Greatest Of All Time
The conversation then turned to the opportunity Slater had to work on Cena’s last show as one of the young talents Cena had hoped would make up the majority of the card. Slater was unsurprisingly positive towards Cena and did seem to believe that Cena at least had a say in getting him and Evans booked for the show. He also remarked on how unlikely it still felt, given he was still contracted to TNA.
“I think it’s another one of these things that’s going to hit me…a few months down the line, when it’s all kind of said and done, you know?” Slater said. “But I think…right now it’s like ‘This guy is the greatest to do what I’ve spent my life trying to do,’ you know what I’m saying? So it’s almost…I don’t want to say a culmination of my life’s work, because I hope it keeps getting better and better, and we keep going higher and high.
“But up to this point, being recognized by the greatest of all time and being selected for a very limited spot, like I was saying before, by the man himself…I would imagine he had a say in it at least, is extremely surreal. And it’s even more surreal that I’m obviously still with TNA. You would think those spots would be reserved for main roster talent only, and the fact that I’ve come in as sort of an outsider, and I’ve managed to get a spot on that card is just insane.”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “TheA2theK Wrestling Show” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
