Heath Slater on working the legends leading to RAW 1000

[héad.casé]

“It was one of those childhood dreams come true. That’s a 100 percent fact that I tell everyone. Just because I remember being that kid on the guardrail watching these guys, every one of them. Everyone that I worked with, I watched live as a kid. I still remember showing up at RAW and looking at the card, ‘Heath Slater vs. Vader.’

“At first, I was just confused, I was like, ‘are y’all just having someone dressed up to kick my ass, what’s going on?’ They were just like, ‘no, it’s really Vader, you’re working Vader.’ That’s when they explained to me that each week leading up to RAW 1000, they were going to have a legend come in. I was like, ‘well, am I going to get to face them all?’ They were like, ‘no, no. We’re going to have whoever else face this guy,’ and I am like, ‘no, no you’re not. This is my spot here. I want to be Mr. Anti-Legend.’”

“Johnny Ace was there, and Ace was like, ‘really? Let’s go to Vince, see what Vince would like.’ I go straight there and I tell him what I told them. Vince was like, ‘you’re willing to do that?’ And I’m like, ‘hell yeah, I am willing to do that. Just give me a two-minute promo, put something over, have them come whoop my ass, I am good.’ So, he went with it. It was like, ‘holy crap, who am I going to face?’ But they never would tell me. So, each week was a surprise for me too.”

“I remember being there with Vader, he was so kind, very nice gentleman, very nice to me. I don’t know about ‘91 Vader, but I know that he was more of a gentle soul when I got to face him. He was very nice. But what really blew my mind, was we were talking about the match, and I’m like, ‘bro, whatever you want to do, I don’t care. Let’s just have fun.’

“But then at the end, Rotunda was like, ‘so the finish, do you just want to do your Vader Bomb or do you want to do your powerbomb?’ Vader literally looked at Rotunda and was like, ‘I think I can do the moonsault.’ Brother, I did one of these shaking of the heads, like, no. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know he nails it and he can do it, but this is 2014.”

“It was a privilege for me working all of them. It was literally Vader, Sid Vicious, I had his first match after he broke his leg, what the hell. Rikishi, Animal, Cyndi Lauper busted the record over my head, and then she felt bad. Because the sugar glass cut me, so she signed the record for me and gave it to me. Piper, sweetheart, we all know him like that. He literally gave me about five hugs and kisses that night. He just thanked me, and I was like, ‘brother, this is the biggest pleasure for me, you don’t understand. Thank you for letting me do this.’”

www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2022/03/heath-slater-recalls-vader-wanting-to-moonsault-during-2014-raw-appearance/

[GodzillaIsMyMonster]

Mar 30, 2022 15:38:19 GMT -5 héad.casé said:

“It was one of those childhood dreams come true. That’s a 100 percent fact that I tell everyone. Just because I remember being that kid on the guardrail watching these guys, every one of them. Everyone that I worked with, I watched live as a kid. I still remember showing up at RAW and looking at the card, ‘Heath Slater vs. Vader.’

“At first, I was just confused, I was like, ‘are y’all just having someone dressed up to kick my ass, what’s going on?’ They were just like, ‘no, it’s really Vader, you’re working Vader.’ That’s when they explained to me that each week leading up to RAW 1000, they were going to have a legend come in. I was like, ‘well, am I going to get to face them all?’ They were like, ‘no, no. We’re going to have whoever else face this guy,’ and I am like, ‘no, no you’re not. This is my spot here. I want to be Mr. Anti-Legend.’”

“Johnny Ace was there, and Ace was like, ‘really? Let’s go to Vince, see what Vince would like.’ I go straight there and I tell him what I told them. Vince was like, ‘you’re willing to do that?’ And I’m like, ‘hell yeah, I am willing to do that. Just give me a two-minute promo, put something over, have them come whoop my ass, I am good.’ So, he went with it. It was like, ‘holy crap, who am I going to face?’ But they never would tell me. So, each week was a surprise for me too.”

“I remember being there with Vader, he was so kind, very nice gentleman, very nice to me. I don’t know about ‘91 Vader, but I know that he was more of a gentle soul when I got to face him. He was very nice. But what really blew my mind, was we were talking about the match, and I’m like, ‘bro, whatever you want to do, I don’t care. Let’s just have fun.’

“But then at the end, Rotunda was like, ‘so the finish, do you just want to do your Vader Bomb or do you want to do your powerbomb?’ Vader literally looked at Rotunda and was like, ‘I think I can do the moonsault.’ Brother, I did one of these shaking of the heads, like, no. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know he nails it and he can do it, but this is 2014.”

“It was a privilege for me working all of them. It was literally Vader, Sid Vicious, I had his first match after he broke his leg, what the hell. Rikishi, Animal, Cyndi Lauper busted the record over my head, and then she felt bad. Because the sugar glass cut me, so she signed the record for me and gave it to me. Piper, sweetheart, we all know him like that. He literally gave me about five hugs and kisses that night. He just thanked me, and I was like, ‘brother, this is the biggest pleasure for me, you don’t understand. Thank you for letting me do this.’”

www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2022/03/heath-slater-recalls-vader-wanting-to-moonsault-during-2014-raw-appearance/

Every bit of this angle was amazing. Heath is 100% the perfect guy for this kind of stuff.

[Dub H]

I feel if any if the guys of 3MB paid their dues and had the talent to win a World Title was Heath.Dude has the work ethic the attitude the charisma.

This is just another example of him giving him all for a small angle in WWE

He just doesnt has the size.

I wish his story with Drew actually led to at least a small main event heel run where he is bitter.Told right the story would have been great

[eJm]

Unironically, I stayed up to watch Raw every week for this angle and nothing else in the run to Raw 1000. Magical stuff.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

That’s really cool. Was the best part of Raw for weeks.

[bob]

that is so cool that the legends treated Heath with such respect and that it was his idea to get beat up by the legends

that was one of the highlights to me leading up to RAW 1000

[Ryushinku]

I"m glad he enjoyed it so much, because I really enjoyed watching it.

Seeing people like particularly Vader and Sid and Lita looking good and getting that spotlight again to a big response was really sweet. You could see Vader was happy in there.

And Heath, he busted his ass with everything he did. Others had better technical skills or bigger physiques but Heath could work the mic, sell huge and had that big work ethic. Any pro wrestler would benefit from that drive to make the most of what they can do.

[Perd]

Heath is awesome. One of those talents that makes anything he’s asked to do as entertaining as possible. And this angle was certainly no exception.

[Bo Rida]

That angle was great but damn imagine not knowing each week?
The happiness of getting to face the likes of Vader, Sid and Piper and then the moment you're wondering which of your heroes could possibly be next only for it to be broke to you that you're facing Rikishi and instantly knowing you're about to get a stinkface.

[Deleted]

I thought Heath would be one of those WWE lifers just because of how well liked he was and how good he was at pretty much everything.

[GuyOfOwnage]

I always tell people this - if I started my own wrestling company, Heath would be the first guy I signed. The guy can literally do it all. From underdog babyface to chickenshit heel, whatever you give him, he will break his back getting it over. He's an incredible asset to any promotion he works with.

[héad.casé]

Mar 30, 2022 22:47:39 GMT -5 @dax said:

I thought Heath would be one of those WWE lifers just because of how well liked he was and how good he was at pretty much everything.

Hell, Heath was the only one in the Nexus they trusted to work with Bret Hart back in the Nexus/Team WWE stuff.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

This was legit one of my favourite angles in WWE history - and my second favourite angle for Heath, because the 'free agent' angle culminating in winning the Smackdown tag titles is my favourite of his and one of my favourites ever.

This angle is the perfect use of legendary wrestlers. A low card guy who is a heat magnet and can get back over again as often as he needs to having lost as many times as you like, and the legends get to come in and do their big spots, get a pop, and piss off again.

I didn't realise Sid hadn't worked a single match since the leg break before that one with Heath. That's an even bigger honour than I thought it was.

Damn. I think Heath might be an all-time favourite of mine and I didn't even notice.

[A Platypus Rave]

Mar 30, 2022 22:47:39 GMT -5 @dax said:

I thought Heath would be one of those WWE lifers just because of how well liked he was and how good he was at pretty much everything.

Yeah, he's a fantastic utility player.

Need a comedy guy to take the fall? Heath.
Need a plucky underdog face? Heath
Need a good hand to help lesser or older wrestlers look good? Heath.
want the same but instead hide their weakness with a tag team? Heath.


Dude can be slotted in most places and he may not be a big main event centerpiece type... you absolutely need dudes like Heath on your roster to keep it healthy.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Mar 31, 2022 2:27:36 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

Mar 30, 2022 22:47:39 GMT -5 @dax said:

I thought Heath would be one of those WWE lifers just because of how well liked he was and how good he was at pretty much everything.

Yeah, he's a fantastic utility player.

Need a comedy guy to take the fall? Heath.
Need a plucky underdog face? Heath
Need a good hand to help lesser or older wrestlers look good? Heath.
want the same but instead hide their weakness with a tag team? Heath.


Dude can be slotted in most places and he may not be a big main event centerpiece type... you absolutely need dudes like Heath on your roster to keep it healthy.

And the thing that WWE forgets, is that just because you may not choose to have those kinds of people on the roster (because you only want potential main eventers) doesn’t mean that spot disappears. You just end up shoehorning potential main eventers into those roles.

[eJm]

Mar 31, 2022 2:58:38 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

Mar 31, 2022 2:27:36 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

Yeah, he's a fantastic utility player.

Need a comedy guy to take the fall? Heath.
Need a plucky underdog face? Heath
Need a good hand to help lesser or older wrestlers look good? Heath.
want the same but instead hide their weakness with a tag team? Heath.


Dude can be slotted in most places and he may not be a big main event centerpiece type... you absolutely need dudes like Heath on your roster to keep it healthy.

And the thing that WWE forgets, is that just because you may not choose to have those kinds of people on the roster (because you only want potential main eventers) doesn’t mean that spot disappears. You just end up shoehorning potential main eventers into those roles.

Like, if you said to me there was a storyline of Heath wanting to get to WrestleMania by hook or by crook, I'd believe that more than I would Seth Rollins desperately needing to be on WrestleMania.

[67 more]

If Vader tried a moonsault in 2012, I'd have shit myself.

[A Platypus Rave]

Mar 31, 2022 3:05:54 GMT -5 eJm said:

Mar 31, 2022 2:58:38 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

And the thing that WWE forgets, is that just because you may not choose to have those kinds of people on the roster (because you only want potential main eventers) doesn’t mean that spot disappears. You just end up shoehorning potential main eventers into those roles.

Like, if you said to me there was a storyline of Heath wanting to get to WrestleMania by hook or by crook, I'd believe that more than I would Seth Rollins desperately needing to be on WrestleMania.

Yeah, no one challengeing Slater is certainly makes more sense than no one wants to face John Cena.

It's like they forgot the reason the Shawn Michaels retirement feud worked was because Shawn wanted Taker from the start and ONLY wanted Undertaker.


Seth at least they kinda leaned into the egotistical he doesn't just want to face anybody he wanted to face a big name at least once or twice... but it's still dumb.

[Deleted]

Heath is a prime example of what Stan Hansen called "a carpenter", because he found the term "jobber" to be derogatory.

He's safe as houses or else they would have never trusted him with Bret, Vader, Sid... guys who due to age and injuries just couldn't do a real match. He will gladly make an ass of himself with a smile on his face, and then get his heat back next week after selling like a Loony Tunes character.

Heath is such a fantastic utility player that I still think the WWE was out of their minds for letting him go.

[Deleted]

Mar 30, 2022 15:48:50 GMT -5 Dub H said:

I feel if any if the guys of 3MB paid their dues and had the talent to win a World Title was Heath.Dude has the work ethic the attitude the charisma.

This is just another example of him giving him all for a small angle in WWE

He just doesnt has the size.

I wish his story with Drew actually led to at least a small main event heel run where he is bitter.Told right the story would have been great

Heath towers over most of the Impact roster. Its one of those 00s midcard guy is huge once he gets to another company. 

I remember the story of him being the only Nexus guy allowed to touch Bret Hart, they really trusted him. 

Heath being a chicken shit world champion would have been amazing.