10 Unexpected WWE Standouts Of 2016
8. Heath Slater
From the man that brought us 3MB, Slater-Gator, and The Social Outcasts, comes one of the most outrageous Cinderella stories of the year.
Heath Slater was never going to be the breakout member of the Nexus. What he's done since then, however, has been the epitome of a jobber hanging on for dear life. Going from team to team, jobbing for legends, and just being a loud goofball, it's surprising that WWE hadn't future-endeavored him sooner. It almost seemed that they might be sending him to NXT when they left him undrafted at the dawn of the brand split.
That moment, however, gave us Slater's greatest performance in his six year WWE career, as he jumped from brand to brand, using any tactic he could to try and secure a paycheck, all to no avail. He talked about caring for his children (the number of which varied from promo to promo), maintaining his above-ground pool, and living in his trailer. This concluded when he was promised a SmackDown contract should he win a tournament to crown the first SmackDown Tag Team Champions. With Rhyno as his unlikely partner, and the sympathetic backing of the fans, Slater secured the job he needed, and became an unlikely fan favourite.