Leon Slater spoke with WhatCulture for an interview to promote his showdown against Je’Von Evans for the TNA X-Division Championship at the TNA Bound For Glory 2025 pay-per-view tonight at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Massachusetts.
The following are some of the highlights from the interview.
On his match with Je’Von Evans at TNA Bound For Glory being possibly the youngest ‘dream match’ ever: “It does, and I think that’s very fair for you to expect, and I think that’s what we’re going to deliver on. I think, like you said, me and Je’Von, the show stealers on our respective brands, and I feel like we’ve been on this parallel path where he’s been killing it on NXT, I’ve been killing it on TNA, and now those paths are finally crossing at Bound for Glory. I feel like it might be the youngest dream match ever. Like, I can’t think of another time in professional wrestling where two people, even under 25, you know what I mean? Or never mind under 23, have had this much anticipation, this much hype for a match, you know what I mean? So… it’s a- it’s another chance to make history and break some records, and I think that’s exactly what we’re going to do on Sunday.”
On the possibility of winning tag-team gold with Je’Von Evans: “I mean if you asked me this question a year ago, I would have told you absolutely no way. It’s not possible. But in 2025, man, I truly believe that anything is possible in the world of professional wrestling. So I don’t think it’s a far off take at all to say that me and Je’Von could win the tag belts. So maybe we just win it off the off the hardies you know? I think that would get much a lot of people would love to see. I feel like it would be the founders versus the innovators now, you know I’m saying that I’d be an extremely fun match and again, I’m down for it, man. I’m down for anything.”
On if it’s true he was legitimately surprised by AJ Styles coming out to put him over during a special promo segment at TNA Slammiversary: “1,000% true. I had absolutely zero clue. Obviously, AJ was announced, and I saw him backstage, so he signed and said hello. But even on the run sheet that we have backstage, there was no AJ Styles appearance scheduled, you know what I mean? So when I was in the ring, I’d shaken Carlos’ hand, I’d had the belt from Moose, I’d given my family a hug because they were in the crowd, which is, again, another super cool moment. I was just taking it all in. I remember like looking around at the people and then all of a sudden I hear the drums like, Get Ready To Fly, and I lost my mind, bro. You could see it, right? I was jumping around. I was sprinting. After like a 20 minute match, I was exhausted, but the adrenaline pumped all the way back up, you know? So again, I’ve said it a couple of times before, but for him to share that moment with me and that moment being his first moment in the company that he helped build in like 10 years plus, you know what I mean, was so, so special, and I still haven’t watched it back because I feel like moments like that, I want to preserve the first-person memory. I feel like as soon as I watch the footage on these things, whether it’s a match or a promo, that memory gets turned to a third-person memory, you know what I mean? So everything about that night at Slammiversary, I can still remember living in full colour in first-person perspective, which I think is a super cool memory to hold, you know?”
Check out the complete interview at WhatCulture.com. H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.
