TNA's Leon Slater Recalls Experience Working John Cena's WWE Retirement Show - Wrestling Inc.

TNA World Champion Leon Slater has spoken about his incredible experience of wrestling at John Cena's finalWWE event.Cena's last WWE show, Saturday Night's Main Event in December 2025, featured several young stars going up against more experienced wrestlers. Slater, who is a part of TNA, was brought in for the show, teaming up with another young, rising star Je'Von Evans, with the two facing AJ Styles and Dragon Lee in a tag team match. The TNA wrestler said that he was honored to be a part of the event, especially considering he isn't a part of WWE."It was an absolutely unbelievable feeling, man. Not only to be one of, I think there was eight of us. I believe it was me, Sol, Oba, and Je'Von," he said on the "I Love Wrestling Podcast." "But out of those, you know, kind of four or five people, not only having the chance to be one of those four or five people, but to be one of those four or five people and not even work for WWE. I was the X-Division Champion contracted to TNA at the time. So that made it even more special for me that not only TNA trusted me to represent them on such a big stage, but WWE wanted me to represent TNA and myself on such a big stage and wanted me to represent the future of the industry on such a big stage on such an important night, like John Cena's final match."The TNA star then spoke glowingly about Cena and how he didn't treat him differently from WWE stars, despite not being part of the company. Slater revealed that he got the chance to speak to Cena, calling it a special moment."He [Cena] sees the talent, and, you know, getting the chance to meet him and pick his brain for the small time that I did, it really was a dream come true, man," he concluded.Slater, since that match, has featured a few times in WWE, both in "WWE NXT" and on the main roster, wrestlingCarmelo Hayes on "WWE SmackDown."