Amazing Red has his eye on the TNA World Championship. The newly crowned X Division Champion and TNA Hall of Famer said he wants to be the next man to hold the title Leon Slater now carries, speaking on The Wrestling Classic’s Casual Conversations.
“I would like to be next, for sure. Especially with Leon [Slater] doing what he does, so young, very smart, very wise,” Red said. “He motivates me to get better and to do better. Seeing someone like that win the title, it makes me feel like, you know what, I could do that too.”
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Slater beat Nic Nemeth at Bound For Glory on October 11 in Tampa to become the youngest TNA World Champion in history, after giving up the X Division Championship earlier this year to chase it. His TNA deal is also reportedly up at the end of 2026, with some in WWE said to be watching his situation.
Slater’s move left the X Division title vacant heading into the same show, and Red won it in a seven-way match over KC Navarro, Rich Swann, Ryan Nemeth, Cedric Alexander, Fabian Aichner and BDE. It was his fourth reign with the belt and his first since a two-day run in 2010. He made his first defense last week, retaining against Cedric Alexander on iMPACT.
“This Is Home”
Red described the X Division as the purest expression of who he is as a performer.
“In some very weird flow, I feel like Amazing Red is like [the] X Division. I feel like that was my style from the beginning. I didn’t want to be a Rey Mysterio. Even though I looked up to him, I wanted to stand out and just be different,” he said. “When [the] X Division came out and it was ‘it’s not about weight limits, it’s about no limits,’ I was like, this is home. This is my thing.”
He also gave credit to the field he beat. “To capture that [title] now again in 2026, to have guys like Rich Swann… [KC] Navarro, even guys like Ali, and it’s just, bro, the division is stacked.”
Finally Taking His Flowers
Red was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame by Frankie Kazarian earlier that night, an honor he had previously turned down. He told Chris Van Vliet in August that he didn’t want to feel put in a box.
“The last couple of days is where I got to just shut my mouth, take my flowers, and it means so much to me. I definitely do appreciate it. I’m very again humbled by it,” Red said. “It just feels surreal… because it’s a lot of respect from your peers, respect from the fans.”
Red worked for TNA from its 2002 launch through 2004 and again from 2009 to 2011. PWInsider Elite has reported that he is now officially signed for a third run, though TNA has not announced the deal.
“Very surreal full circle moment where I thought I would never be back into something like this, let alone be back into TNA,” he said. “And especially where I’m at now, like in life, mentally, physically, it was probably no better position or way to be back in [TNA] than now. And I’m just so blessed, man.”
