TNA star answers WWE United States title open challenge on SmackDown
This week’s United States title open challenge was answered by a TNA star.
X Division Champion Leon Slater answered the call on Friday’s SmackDown in London, England, challenging Carmelo Hayes. After an exciting back and forth match, the United States Champion emerged victorious after connecting with a big cutter.
Slater was originally scheduled to be part of TNA events this weekend, defending the X Division title against Myron Reed on Thursday’s AMC Impact premiere and also at the TNA Genesis pay-per-view on Saturday against Cedric Alexander and Moose. However, visa issues keept Slater from appearing on those shows in Texas, though it opened up an opportunity for him to appear on WWE television.
In recent months, Slater has gotten big opportunities to shine on NXT and WWE thanks to TNA’s relationship with the company. He and Je’Von Evans competed for the World Tag Team titles at Saturday Night’s Main Event in December, losing to champions AJ Styles and Dragon Lee. He also headlined NXT New Year’s Evil earlier this month, challenging NXT Champion Oba Femi unsuccessfully.
Bryan Rose is an editor from California that has been covering professional wrestling for well over a decade. He officially joined F4WOnline as an editor in 2017.