Leon Slater Earns NXT Championship Match At New Year’s Evil

Posted by admin on December 17th, 2025

Leon Slater is officially headed to New Year’s Evil after earning a major victory in the main event of Tuesday’s episode of NXT.

Slater defeated Joe Hendry, Dion Lennox, and Myles Borne in a four-way match to become the number one contender for Oba Femi’s NXT Championship. The finish came after Hendry and Lennox spilled to the outside and began brawling, taking themselves out of the equation. With the ring cleared, Slater capitalized by connecting with a swanton 450 splash on Borne to secure the pinfall victory. The show closed with NXT Champion Oba Femi making his way to the ring, where he and Slater stood face-to-face, setting the stage for their upcoming title match on January 6.

The match was booked following a shift in plans coming out of NXT Deadline. At that event, Je’Von Evans won the Iron Survivor Challenge, which initially guaranteed him a championship opportunity against Femi at New Year’s Evil. However, Evans chose not to wait. On the following episode of NXT, he interrupted an in-ring segment involving Ricky Saints and Oba Femi and made it clear he wanted his title shot immediately. Femi accepted, and the two met later that night in the main event.

Evans appeared to have the championship within reach, but interference from Saints changed the outcome. Upset that Evans had jumped the line and received a title match before him, Saints dragged the referee out of the ring to stop the count. Evans responded by diving onto Saints on the outside, but the damage had already been done. The momentum shifted back to Femi, who took advantage and retained the NXT Championship.

With Evans having already cashed in his opportunity, NXT General Manager Ava announced that a new number one contender would be determined. Last week, she revealed that Hendry, Lennox, Borne, and Slater, the four competitors who did not win the Iron Survivor Challenge at Deadline, would face off in a four-way match to decide Femi’s challenger for New Year’s Evil.

Slater now steps into the biggest singles match of his NXT career. As TNA X Division Champion, he has already made waves across promotions, and his victory further positions him as a rising star to watch. Whether he can dethrone Oba Femi at New Year’s Evil remains to be seen, but the path to January 6 is now clear.