What TNA booking might say about Leon Slater’s future

Leon Slater tied the record for the longest X Division Championship reign in TNA history but he did not break it. What does that tell us about Slater’s prospects?

After 298 days as champion, Slater lost the title to Cedric Alexander in a two-out-of-three falls match on the live episode of Impact that aired on May 14. Had he retained, he would have broken the record. Instead, he is now tied with Austin Aries, who won the title from Brian Kendrick in September of 2011 and then surrendered it the following July for a TNA World Championship match. (Aries would go on to defeat Bobby Roode for the World title at Destination X.)

The booking decision to put Alexander over Slater was not without its critics. Apparently, Slater’s contractual status played a role in that decision.

Our own Dave Meltzer explained TNA’s mindset in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer newsletter.

“A lot of people were mad about them not letting [Slater] break the record, but the belief is Slater is gone to WWE or AEW when his contract is up,” Meltzer wrote.

That shouldn’t surprise anyone. Slater has wrestled in NXT several times. He was in the Iron Survivor Challenge at NXT Deadline last December, and he challenged Oba Femi for the NXT Championship at New Year’s Evil in January. He also challenged Carmelo Hayes for the WWE United States Championship on SmackDown, also in January. 

TNA originally announced the signing of Slater in October of 2023, when Slater was only 19 years old. Presumably, then, his current contract will expire in October of this year.