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Leon Slater will be in one of the biggest matches of his young pro wrestling career on Thursday night as he’s set to defend the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) X Division Championship against Cedric Alexander.
Should Slater defeat Alexander, he will solidify himself as the longest-reigning X Division champion and surpass Austin Aries for the record. Aries held the title for 298 days beginning in September 2011 and only relinquished it to get a shot at the TNA World Championship.
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Leon Slater makes his way to the ring during SmackDown at OVO Arena Wembley in London on Jan. 16, 2026. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
Fellow TNA compatriot A.J. Francis is hoping Slater pulls out the victory against Alexander. He said he wants to take the title off his waist as he proclaimed to be the “biggest heel” in the company.
“Hopefully Leon wins because the person that should be taking the X Division title off Leon is me. I’m the biggest heel in TNA,” Francis told Fox News Digital. “I’m really the biggest heel in wrestling. I’m such a big heel that there’s this entire initiative that there was a streamer who was excited to see me at Reality of Wrestling on a show and it’s become, like, a thing where, ‘There was no way this guy was that excited to see A.J.’ Wow. Like, I’m such a heel that you hate me so much that someone else can’t enjoy my presence. Nobody else in this wrestling business gets booed like me.
“I mean for real, if we’re calling a spade, a spade, who else in the wrestling industry gets booed? The top heels, the guys who are supposed to be the top heels, the MJFs, the Dominik Mysterios, those guys, they get cheered. Fans cheer them when they come out. Who really gets booed in today’s business, but me? Me and Logan Paul, literally. And then you have Joe Hendry who just did a remix of the same song he made for me two years ago and made it about Logan Paul. And everybody’s like, ‘This is so cool.’ The thing is, I always provide. I’m the ultimate provider. I’m the biggest and best heel in the business. I’m the best big man 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 Feb. 5, 2026. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
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Francis added there would be nobody better to take the X Division title from Slater, adding that he was cheated out of the title in his previous match against Slater.
“So who would be better to take that X Division title off Leon Slater than me? Who would get a better reaction to take that X Division off Leon Slater than me? And also, by the way, in the one match I had against Leon Slater for the X Division title, I was cheated by BDE, Rich Swann and the referee,” he said.
Francis then sounded off on the critics and naysayers who have seemingly lined up to wrong him.
AJ Francis visits SiriusXM on Radio Row at Super Bowl LX in San Francisco, California, on Feb. 5, 2026. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
“These are facts. See, that’s the thing, I come on here and talk facts and people get mad at me because I talk facts,” he told Fox News Digital. “Because in this wrestling business, that’s full of these cowards that only are tough in interviews and only tough behind a TV screen and they’re not tough in real life. They don’t want you to say things that are facts that could be ‘misconstrued’ as trying to ‘get heat’ or ‘trying to going to business for yourself.’ I am going into business for myself. I’ve been in business for myself.
“I was in business for myself when everybody told me I was worthless 2 1/2 years ago. I was in business for myself then. So why do I gotta 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 heel in the business, personally, I feel, ‘F— ya.’ And if you have a problem with me saying that, that’s your problem. I can go out of my way disrespecting nobody. I don’t go out of my way talking down to nobody. It’s always other people that want to start with me. The problem is they bring a knife to a gun fight and they get mad they get clapped.”
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Francis will take on KC Navarro in a SacTown Street Fight on “Impact” in Sacramento, California. The show can be watched live on AMC at 9 p.m. ET.