10 Wrestlers Who Will NEVER Be All Elite (And Why)

10. Heath Slater

“Nope! No on Heath Slater.”

This was Cody Rhodes’ answer to the likelihood of AEW signing up the recently released former Tag Team champ.

A well liked, often very funny undercard act, Slater established a solid connection with WWE fans during the 2016 Draft. Left un-drafted, Slater launched an initially hopeless campaign to get a job. It led to him being decimated by everyone from Jinder Mahal to Rhyno to Brock Lesnar before he and Rhyno joined forces to become the inaugural SmackDown Tag Team champions.

Despite the initial popularity of the act, it was clear Slater still held a rather low ceiling in WWE, often missing lengthy periods of air time in the years after his big moment. On the few occasions WWE granted him some time in the spotlight, he remained fairly over as evidenced from his time as a referee during Baron Corbin’s GM run.

In regards to AEW being so disinterested in a man that cleanly pinned their first ever World champion once upon a time, it is too soon to tell why. The company have already made clear their intentions to hire several recently released workers such as Rusev and Zack Ryder.

Provided Slater gets super jacked and tears up the indies, WWE will likely rehire him and make him a World champ anyway based on the journeys of his old 3MB buddies.