Leon Slater says he’s not sure how close he got to a singles match with AJ Styles, but he was certainly doing his best to make it happen.
Slater spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard about his relationship with Styles, who he shared a memorable in-ring moment with at Slammiversary 2025. Styles put Slater over in a “passing of the torch” segment, and many fans speculated that the two might eventually have a match against each other in WWE or TNA.
They did ultimately share the ring before Styles retired this year, although it was a tag team match at WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event. Slater said he’s not sure how close Styles was to having another match in TNA, but he was certainly pushing to get a singles match with the WWE Hall of Famer.
“I mean there was definitely talk from me about it happening,” Slater said. “I was working hard to get that match happening. But as far as the powers that be, I’m not sure how close it ever came to happening. I’m not sure how close AJ was to ever having another match in TNA.”
Leon Slater is grateful he still got a tag team match against AJ Styles
Despite not getting a singles match, Leon Slater is still very appreciative that the tag team match, which also featured Dragon Lee and Je’Von Evans, even happened at all.
“But on the other hand, that’s what made the John Cena retirement match so special, because it wasn’t only a cool opportunity to be on such a platform like that with Je’Von, someone I’d had this kind of storied history with over the past couple months leading up to it, and someone super cool like Dragon Lee that’s been killing it every week on Raw over there.
“But having AJ in that match as well, it was almost too good to be true. Having the first-ever X Division Champion, the youngest ever one, and the current one at the time in the same match on such a night like John Cena’s last show is just incredible. So although we never had the singles, I’m very grateful we got to mix it up in that tag match.”
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