TNA X-Division Champion Leon Slater is about for the largest match of his profession this weekend, as he’ll team with “NXT” star Je’Von Evans to face WWE World Tag Team Champions AJ Styles and Dragon Lee on WWE Saturday Night’s Essential Event. It is a match that does not come without controversy, nevertheless, as Slater was forced to drag out of two bookings this weekend, including Austrian promotion wXw’s twenty fifth Anniversary show. The short notice of all of it has reportedly left wXw annoyed with WWE’s handling of the situation, feeling it put Slater in a troublesome position to cancel a booking they claim he had agreed to in March.
A minimum of one promoter doesn’t agree with wXw’s position. Taking to X on Tuesday evening to reply to a tweet aggregating a report on Slater’s situation, GCW owner and promoter Brett Lauderdale defended the best way the situation was handled, stating that Slater was contracted to WWE’s promotional partner TNA, and as such would need to make TNA and their partners a priority over other promotions.
“Whenever you book a contracted talent, you do it with the understanding that the talent may be pulled at any time for any reason (or no reason),” Lauderdale tweeted. “On this case, it’s inconvenient but you might have to be thrilled for Leon and realize he’ll now be that way more useful when he returns.”
Lauderdale is connected to several of the parties involved, having used Slater on GCW shows since 2022, including seven times in 2025. GCW has also gotten more involved with WWE this yr, including hosting a WWE ID showcase show in early August, which featured matches for the WWE ID Women’s Championship and the WWE ID Men’s Championship.