Every Original WWE NXT Black & Gold Roster Member - Where Are They Now?

36. Heath Slater

Heath Slater Wwe
WWE.com

What was he doing at the time?

The other half of a moribund match with Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater was fumbling around for the next thing he could do to try and get over again on WWE's main roster. Bret Hart had taken a shine to him during their exchanges in 2010, and others within the system eventually did too. For the want of a better phrase, Slater seemed to know his role as the decade continued. A force of nature for lower card comedy, he managed to turn a one-note rockstar gimmick into a 3-Man Band stable, pivoted into a Social Outcasts group, and eventually a Tag Team Title with Rhyno that returned to him to genuine main roster relevance. 

What is he doing now?

Working the indies, and doing just fine at it. Heath was one of the many unfortunate names to get cut during WWE's brutal pandemic-era releases, but when the world opened back up, he followed suit. He's clocked up just short of 200 matches since his final WWE Raw appearance (a post-release match with then-WWE Champion Drew McIntyre), carving out a solid run in Impact Wrestling along the way as well as reuniting at various points with Rhino when they have the chance to get the band back together. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.