Nic Nemeth on No TNA Tag Teams Being Included In WWE’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic 2026 & His Belief Leon Slater Will Be “Running Pro Wrestling” For The Next 20 Years

As noted before, WWE recently revealed the full field of tag teams for this year’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament. This upcoming tournament features teams from Lucha Libre AAA and WWE’s NXT, WWE EVOLVE, RAW, and SmackDown brands.

A recent episode of the Unlikley with Adrian Hernandez podcast featured Nic Nemeth as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Nemeth’s thoughts about the lack of TNA Wrestling tag teams being announced for WWE’s upcoming tag team tournament and if he feels upset over the snub.

“It doesn’t because myself, and my brother are comically busy at the moment. But it does, as a TNA wrestler, not being the tag champs, yeah, it does. Because there’s a relationship there. We’ve had some moments where we got a lot of NXT people who were brand new, gave them a shot, gave them some TV time, got those reps in. It would be nice to see it replicated. But, of course, it’s not always the time and place for it. There were times for months where we were going back and forth all over NXT, our guys and gals were, and all over TNA. NXT guys and gals were (showing up). Some people were going to Raw and SmackDown, and it led to Leon Slater getting some cool moments and Joe Hendry getting some cool stuff when he was still with us. So all of those moments can still happen, and they will when the time is right. It would be great to be represented out there. But also, I’m super busy right now, and I’m not interested in doing NXT as the world champion and tag team champion. But… down the line, I would love to see more of an interaction if we continue that relationship because it was really fruitful for both sides. I was very impressed with some young up-and-comers getting some reps with us and getting to see our guys. You know, you got to see Cruz Montana showing up on NXT before he showed up at NXT. So he’s doing in theory, his own vignette to let that audience know when you see me next time, I’m going to be kicking everyone’s ass, and that’s why you get that emotion and that reaction because he got to be over there a few times before that. So it’s, it’s been really positive for us. Hopefully it’s been as positive for them, and I would like to see more in the future.”

Nemeth also gave his thoughts about his upcoming TNA World Championship defense against Leon Slater at this October’s TNA Bound For Glory 2026 event.

“I can’t say anything negative about him, and in the next few weeks, I’m going to because I have to, and I’m a bad guy, and that’s pro wrestling. But I’m going on two and a half years of singing his praises. He’s smarter than he should be. His ring IQ shouldn’t be as high as it is right now, and it’s already high. Plus the athleticism and the things that he can do that no one else can. He’s another one of those guys that… he’s nice and humble, too, backstage, so it kind of makes me sick. So it’s like, ugh, we get it. You’re nice and a good guy. Oh, cool, and you’re charismatic, and you’re going to be running pro wrestling for the next 20 years. Blah, blah, blah. Nobody cares. Here’s what I got to do. I go, that chip on my shoulder just becomes that much bigger because it’s like, hey, it’s his time. He’s a young go-getter. He could be the youngest TNA champ ever. Does he deserve it? Yes. Does he deserve to win this year? Would I buy him as a believable, viable TNA world champion? Yes. Will I let him beat me? Hell no. There has to be some aspect of me wanting to outdo everybody and being able to adapt to his style and because of the years that I have in the background, because of my ring general and ring IQ, I got him beat there, and that’s where the match is going to come down to. Those last couple of minutes with those things that happened in between the moves, the ring positioning, my brain being ready to play chess at the end to counter everything he’s got, that’s the only difference in the two of us, and him being a nice guy there’s that half-second hesitation when it comes to full-on and ending it, this is the final shot, this is the final blow, and you have that half hesitation, that’s the difference between the two of us.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2