Chairshot Wrestling News Report (8/24/2026): Slater Chooses Nemeth, Sami Snaps & Kyoki Arrives

Leon Slater chooses Nic Nemeth after TNA Lockdown, Sami Zayn snaps on CM Punk and Kevin Owens, and Hiromu Takahashi arrives in WWE as Kyoki.

Leon Slater had himself a Sunday.

He entered TNA Lockdown fighting to regain the X-Division Championship and left with that title and a future TNA World Championship match.

Meanwhile, Sami Zayn completely detonated the WWE Championship picture Friday, Hiromu Takahashi officially arrived in WWE, and AEW reduced its Continental Challenge Cup to four wrestlers.

Oh, and Raw starts early today.

It’s the Chairshot Wrestling News Report for August 24, 2026!

Leon Slater Wins the X-Division Title — Then Chooses Nic Nemeth

Leon Slater defeated Cedric Alexander in a Last Man Standing cage match at TNA Lockdown to regain the X-Division Championship, surviving after delivering three consecutive Lumbar Checks and a Swanton 450. Later, after Nic and Ryan Nemeth defeated The Hardys for the TNA World Tag Team Championship, Slater appeared and invoked Option C for a TNA World Championship match against Nic Nemeth at Bound For Glory.

That is how you make somebody feel important in one night. Slater did not simply regain a championship. He immediately decided that championship was no longer enough.

The Option C concept has always worked best when the wrestler invoking it feels like somebody genuinely ready to gamble something valuable for something bigger. Slater just survived Cedric Alexander inside a cage. Now he is betting the X-Division Championship on himself.

The Nemeths Take the Tag Team Titles

Nic and Ryan Nemeth defeated Matt and Jeff Hardy to capture the TNA World Tag Team Championship in the Lockdown main event. Nic scored the deciding fall on Matt Hardy following Danger Zone before Slater interrupted the post-match celebration.

TNA managed to create two stories with one finish. The Nemeths finally have the tag-team gold.

Nic Nemeth simultaneously has a completely different problem waiting for him. That is considerably more useful than ending Lockdown with champions celebrating while everybody waits until Thursday to find out what comes next. Slater ensured the next story started before the cage was even opened.

Mustafa Ali Wins TNA International Gold

Mustafa Ali defeated Jason Hotch to capture the TNA International Championship at Lockdown, finishing Hotch with a Swanton 450 inside the cage. Ali collecting championship gold was probably inevitable.

The interesting part is what the victory does to Order 4. That group has spent enough time dealing with internal tension that Ali becoming champion gives everybody another reason to question where they stand. Championships should create problems, and this one immediately does.

Sami Zayn Snaps on Kevin Owens and CM Punk

Friday’s SmackDown ended with CM Punk retaining the Undisputed WWE Championship against Kevin Owens after Sami Zayn interfered. Zayn initially attempted to hand Owens the championship to use as a weapon. When Owens refused, Sami struck him with the belt instead, allowing Punk to hit the Go to Sleep. Zayn then attacked both men after the match.

The best part is Owens refusing the championship. KO had the opportunity to cheat his way to the WWE Championship in Toronto. He would not do it. For Sami, that was apparently the final insult.

Zayn now has a reason to hate Punk because he believes Punk stole the championship from him and a reason to hate Owens because his best friend refused the help Sami believed he needed. This is not heel Sami complaining about conspiracies anymore. This Sami is actually willing to create one.

Hiromu Takahashi Arrives as Kyoki

Hiromu Takahashi officially appeared on WWE television Friday under the name Kyoki, joining Shinsuke Nakamura in a video message directed toward WWE Tag Team Champions Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga. Nakamura and Kyoki are referring to their team as Bakusai.

There are worse introductions for Hiromu Takahashi than: “This lunatic hangs out with Shinsuke Nakamura and wants to fight the Tongans.”

WWE does not need to spend twenty minutes explaining his résumé. People unfamiliar with Hiromu will understand him quickly enough once he wrestles. The important part is that WWE immediately positioned Kyoki around champions rather than introducing him as somebody who needs six months to prove he belongs.

AEW’s Continental Challenge Cup Reaches the Final Four

Saturday’s Collision established the final two semifinalists in AEW’s Continental Challenge Cup when Claudio Castagnoli defeated Daniel Garcia and Kyle O’Reilly submitted Orange Cassidy. Wednesday’s semifinals in Glasgow will feature Jon Moxley vs. Castagnoli and Nigel McGuinness vs. O’Reilly, with the winners advancing to the final at All In.

That is an excellent final four because every semifinal already has its own story. Moxley and Claudio know each other almost too well. Nigel is trying to drag his body all the way back to Wembley.

O’Reilly has quietly eliminated two wrestlers from his own Conglomeration orbit. No additional tournament gimmick is necessary. Put those four guys in Glasgow and ring the bell.

Willow Nightingale Survives Before Wembley

Willow Nightingale retained the AEW Women’s World Championship against TBS Champion Maya World in Saturday’s Collision main event, catching World with a backslide. Willow now moves forward to her All In championship defense against Mercedes Moné at Wembley Stadium.

This was the classic danger of booking a champion eight days before a giant pay-per-view defense. Everybody already knows what comes next. Maya’s job was to make people temporarily forget.

She did enough of that to make the match useful without AEW doing something silly to complicate Wembley. Now there is nothing between Willow and Mercedes.

WWE Raw Preview — August 24, 2026

Monday’s WWE Raw airs at the special start time of 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT from Ottawa, with WWE also scheduled to tape Friday’s SmackDown afterward. Two World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender’s Tournament semifinals and an Oba Femi-Bron Breakker contract signing headline the announced lineup.

• World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender’s Tournament Semifinal – Penta vs. La Parka
• World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender’s Tournament Semifinal – Dragon Lee vs. Rey Fenix
• Stephanie Vaquer vs. Roxanne Perez
• Oba Femi and Bron Breakker contract signing
• Adam Pearce has also teased the next development involving LA Knight, Solo Sikoa and The Bloodline.

The possibility of Penta and Fenix both advancing immediately jumps off the page. WWE could absolutely resist giving fans that final. It could also decide there are considerably worse ideas than putting two brothers in the ring with a world-title opportunity hanging between them. Either way, we will know tonight.

TNA Lockdown 2026 Results

TNA brought Lockdown back Sunday for the first time in a decade, with the entire show taking place inside the steel cage.

• Vincent & Dutch defeated BDE & Rich Swann – Countdown
• Trey Miguel defeated Agent Zero – Countdown
• AJ Francis defeated Elijah – The Final Encore
• Allie & Kiera Hogan defeated The Elegance Brand – TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship
• Frankie Kazarian defeated Moose – Escape the Cage
• TNA Knockouts World Championship – Xia Brookside (c) defeated Elayna Black
• TNA International Championship – Mustafa Ali defeated Jason Hotch (c)
• TNA X-Division Championship, Last Man Standing – Leon Slater defeated Cedric Alexander (c)
• TNA World Tag Team Championship – The Nemeths defeated The Hardys (c)

Lockdown accomplished what bringing back an old event name is supposed to accomplish.

It did not simply create nostalgia. It changed TNA. Slater has a world-title match. The Nemeths have the tag belts. Ali has championship gold again. And TNA has another signature event available again after a ten-year absence.

Meanwhile, WWE enters Monday with Sami Zayn becoming considerably more dangerous, Kyoki entering the tag-team picture and two tournament matches that could produce a very interesting final.

Missing three days did not leave us short on wrestling news.

Quite the opposite.

This report includes information from: TNAWrestling.com, WWE.com, Fightful.com, AllEliteWrestling.com, POSTWrestling.com, and AthlonSports.com.