10 Wrestlers Who Lost All Passion For The Business

4. Heath Slater

Carlito WWE
WWE

Heath Slater enjoyed a decent WWE career, all things considered.

Never their idea of a headliner, he did well, given the atrocities that WWE passed for fiction in his era, to have gotten himself over in various storylines. His braying, obnoxious idiot was the perfect character to play against the returning "Legends" ahead of and at Raw 1000. He was great at showing ass because he was two kinds of entertaining at the same time. That wince-inducing drawl of his had such a wonderfully blunt ignorance to it.

Was he good at playing stupid, or was he just a shoot dumbass?

Earnestly good and so-bad-it's-good simultaneously, he later connected with fans on a sentimental level when teaming with Rhyno in one of those rare happenstance storylines where something improbable clicks, and WWE goes with it.

Speaking to Chasing Glory with Lillian Garcia in 2020, Slater revealed that he was never actually happy with his lot. He arrived on the main roster as part of the Nexus, around which the entire promotion was focused for much of 2010, so perhaps his expectations were raised.

"Besides me and [Rhyno] winning the tag titles, which was an awesome little run, I have been so burned out and just not even really caring."
 
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Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!