Drew McIntyre Had To Talk Heath Slater Into Recent WWE RAW Appearance

Speaking to talkSPORT, WWE Champion Drew McIntyre revealed he had to convince Heath Slater to show up to this week's RAW as he was 'a little bit against it'.

Slater made his shocking WWE return on Monday night, losing to his buddy after he called out the 'Scottish Psychopath' for not helping him when he lost his job with the company in April.

However, it appears Slater wasn't too excited about coming back to Monday Night Raw and McIntyre had to seriously convince him to show up:

'The moment at the end was very special and I was very much pushing for that idea to happen. I think I saw something on the internet saying I was behind it and I’m thinking how are they getting this information?! But yeah, I played a big part in making it happen and to be honest, Heath was a little bit against it and I spoke to my wife right before the phone call I made to Heath to try and convince him to come onto the show for the segment. She reminded me how I felt at the time when I was released and sure enough, he felt the same. He appreciated the opportunity with WWE, it was where he had made his name, but mentally he has moved on.'

McIntyre also mentioned how he feels Slater is 'ready for the next stage'.

This segment was fairly unusual for a top babyface WWE Champion, as instead of presenting the star as a superhero it highlighted McIntyre's flaws. That was something McIntyre was pushing for in the empty arena setting, as he felt it gave them a chance to tell a more complex story:

'I know, obviously, I’m supposed to be a top good guy so it’s not ideal in a lot of eyes to put it out there that I’ve been a bad friend. But, the way I look at it with my character is, especially given the environment we’re in, we can tell a more complex story. In an arena, I’d have been booed to pieces for being such a terrible friend, but in this environment I think it’s important to show my character is flawed, because I am. Like [John] Cena is Superman and Roman can be bulletproof a lot of the time, but I think Drew McIntyre is Drew Galloway. I am a flawed person and Dolph tried to put me in a difficult situation, showing maybe I haven’t been as attentive to my friend as I should have been in front of the world. That shows I’m a human being, you saw it in my face. You saw Drew Galloway. Then it’s like ‘I feel really bad here. I’ll give you what you want,’ and at the end we reunited, we overcame Dolph and I think it’s important for my character to show those flaws. '

Hopefully, Slater can follow in McIntyre's footsteps and find his groove on the independent scene, as this RAW appearance proved he still has an awful lot to offer as a performer.

McIntyre will defend his WWE title against Dolph Ziggler at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules on July 19.