NEWNow you can listen to Pak Gazette articles!
Leon Slater will be in one of the biggest matches of his young professional wrestling career on Thursday night, as he is set to defend the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) X Division Championship against Cedric Alexander.
If Slater defeats Alexander, he will cement himself as the longest-reigning X Division champion and surpass Austin Aries for the record. Aries held the title for 298 days starting in September 2011 and only relinquished it for a shot at the TNA World Championship.
ZERO BS. ONLY DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
Leon Slater enters the ring during SmackDown at the OVO Arena Wembley in London on January 16, 2026. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
His TNA compatriot AJ Francis hopes Slater gets the win against Alexander. He said he wants to take the title off his waist as he proclaimed to be the company’s “biggest heel.”
“I hope Leon wins because the person who should take the X Division title from Leon is me. I’m the biggest heel in TNA,” Francis told Pak Gazette Digital. “I really am the biggest heel in wrestling. I’m such a heel that there’s this whole initiative where there was a streamer who was excited to see me on Reality of Wrestling on a show and it’s become a thing where, ‘There was no way this guy was that excited to see AJ.’ Wow. I’m such a heel that you hate me so much that someone else can’t enjoy my presence. No one else in this wrestling business gets booed like me.
“I mean, seriously, if we’re calling a spade a spade, who else in the wrestling industry gets booed? The high heels, the guys who are supposed to be the high heels, the MJFs, the Dominik Mysterios, those guys, they get applauded. The fans cheer them when they come out. Who really gets booed in the business today but me? Logan Paul and I, literally. And then you have Joe Hendry, who just did a remix of The same song he did for me two years ago and he did it about Logan Paul. And everyone’s like, ‘This is great.’ The thing is, I always deliver. I’m the biggest, best badass in the business and I prove it time and time again.”
AJ Francis visits SiriusXM on Radio Row at Super Bowl LX in San Francisco, California on February 5, 2026. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PakGazette.Com
Francis added that there would be no one better to take the X Division title from Slater, adding that he was robbed of the title in his previous match against Slater.
“So who would be better than me to take the X Division title from Leon Slater? Who would have a better reaction to take the X Division title from Leon Slater than me? And also, by the way, in the only match I had against Leon Slater for the
Francis then criticized critics and detractors who have apparently lined up to harm him.
AJ Francis visits SiriusXM on Radio Row at Super Bowl LX in San Francisco, California on February 5, 2026. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
“These are facts. Look, that’s the thing, I come here and I talk about facts and people get mad at me because I talk about facts,” he told Pak Gazette Digital. “Because in this wrestling business, it’s full of cowards who are only tough in interviews and behind a TV screen and aren’t tough in real life. They don’t want you to say things that are facts that could be ‘misinterpreted’ as trying to ‘get heat’ or ‘trying to do business for yourself’. I’m going to start my own business. I’ve been in the business on my own.
“I was in business for myself when everyone was telling me I was worthless two and a half years ago. I was in business for myself then. So why do I have to pretend I’m not in business for myself now? I think if you don’t appreciate the things that I bring to the table as the best big man in the business, as the best bully in the business, personally, I feel, ‘F— ya.’ And if you have a problem with me saying that, that’s your problem. I can get out. I don’t go out of my way to talk down to anyone. It’s always other people who want to start with me. The problem is that they bring a knife to a shooting and get angry and applaud them.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE Pak Gazette APP
Francis will face KC Navarro in a SacTown street fight at “Impact” in Sacramento, California. The show can be seen live on AMC at 9 pm ET.
