TNA's AJ Francis eyes Leon Slater's X Division Championship, torches critics in scathing rant

TNA Wrestling star A.J. Francis talks to Fox News Digital about is pursuit of the X Division Championship and torches the critics.

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