Leon Slater on TNA Management Didn’t Know He Was Doing Swanton 450 Off Ultimate X Structure at TNA Rebellion 2025, Grayson Waller’s Digs At TNA on WWE NXT Shows, & His Interest In Potential Future Match With Avery Styles

A recent episode of the Counted Out With Mike and Tyler podcast featured Leon Slater as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Slater’s thoughts about the Swanton 450 that he performed off the Ultimate X structure during his Ultimate X match for the TNA X-Division Championship at TNA Rebellion 2025 and how TNA management didn’t know beforehand that he was going to do the spot.

“It was definitely my idea. I’ll start out with that. It was definitely my idea. Nobody forced me to do it, and it was one of those things where I kind of had to ask for forgiveness and not permission. So, the guys in the match knew of course and they were up for it because they knew it would be one of these moments that would live forever and like I was saying, as someone that wants to be remembered and have these moments and make this history, I knew in my first Ultimate X match I had to do something to set the tone and it would be, hopefully, replayed along with Elix Skipper, hurricanrana off the cage and A.J. (Styles) doing the crazy flip bump off of the dropkick. Being in such a signature TNA match, I knew I had to leave my stamp on it. But like I was saying, I definitely had to ask for forgiveness and not permission because I think if I went to management and said, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna do this crazy flip off of the top of this 30-foot structure,’ they would’ve been like, ‘Eh, yeah, maybe that’s a risk we don’t take.’ But you know what? Looking back on it, it was very stupid; I would never do it again. I’ve done it now; I don’t need to do it again. I had a lot of angry and concerned messages from a lot of people close to me after that. But I’m glad I did it and I wouldn’t change it for the world because like I said, I think it is gonna be a moment that’s gonna be replayed as long as TNA lives forever, you know?”

Slater also gave his thoughts about Grayson Waller’s digs at TNA and Cruz Montana, former Mike Santana in TNA, during his promos on recent WWE NXT shows.

“I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it and until that brother comes over and tests himself against some TNA talent, it’s all just talk to me. He can say, ‘Oh, you’re TNA good.’ What was the other lyric he said? ‘It’s like being the best in a high school gym’ or something like that, right? To me, it’s all talk. To me, it’s just all talk. In TNA, excuse the pun, it’s total nonstop action. We don’t do all of that talking. If we say something, we go out and do it. If I say I’m gonna become the youngest X Division Champion of all time, I’m gonna do it; say I’m gonna become the World Champion, I’m gonna do it. So until he comes and crosses the line, and maybe looks me in the face, looks Frankie Kazarian in the face, looks Nic Nemeth in the face and tells us to our face that we are less than, I don’t believe a single word that he says. That guy can do it for the clicks; he can do it for the views. But until he steps over the line and proves it, it’s a whole bunch of bullsh*t to me.”

Waller also gave his thoughts about if he would like to meet Waller if he came over to TNA.

“Absolutely, absolutely. I’ve been over to his side. I’ve been very successful on his side. Tag Team Title matches, NXT Title matches. WWE Title matches, U.S. Title matches. I’ve done a lot to say that I’ve never worked there. So I would be very, very interested if Grayson would have that same talk and that same attitude if he was looking at me face-to-face in a TNA ring; that’s for sure.”

In a separate recent interview with Unlikely’s Adrian Hernandez, Slater also gave his thoughts about his praise of Avery Styles and Styles recently joining TNA.

“Avery is g man, Avery is a g. It’s funny because him and Wendy, his mom and AJ’s wife, was there at Lockdown, which is the first time I met him. After kind of hanging out with him and spending the day with him, talking to Wendy a little bit as well, I text AJ afterwards and I go, ‘Man, you have done a hell of a job, you have a beautiful family man.’ He goes, ‘Ah man, thank you, I appreciate you.’ Avery is, he’s so humble. You know what I mean? For someone that’s I think less than a year into his wrestling journey and he’s already signed to TNA and he’s already getting propped up as the next big thing, it’s a lot of pressure. He doesn’t let that get to him, he’s very very humble. He’s just a normal guy, you know what I mean? Which for me, it’s great to see because if there’s anyone that’s kind of been in similar shoes to him of having all that pressure at 19 years old to become the next great X-Division Champion, the next great this or the next great that, it’s me. I think me and Avery kind of click on that level as well, we have similar experiences as young guys trying to find their way through the wrestling world.”

Slater also gave his thoughts about his interest in having a potential match against Avery Styles in the future.

“I truly hope we get to step in the ring one day at TNA because that would be a hell of a moment. I said it before, it’s like AJ Styles’ biological son versus AJ Styles’ kind of offshoot wrestling half son, you know what I mean? If me and Avery get to lock horns in a TNA ring, it would be a dream.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1, 2, & 3