Heath Slater On The Success Of Jinder Mahal And Drew McIntyre, His New School, Mentors Backstage

It is one of the most fun interviews in the history of the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling as WWE Superstar; Heath Slater joins us for episode #313. In a near 60-minute discussion, The One Man Band takes Chad and John behind the scenes of his brand new wrestling school Face 2 Face Wrestling. But it does not end there as Heath also goes into great detail on his over ten year run with WWE and some of the moments that have helped defined his role as one of the most versatile performers the WWE has ever had. The full episode can be downloaded at this link.

Opening his brand new wrestling school Face 2 Face Wrestling:

"I want to bring in everyone from everywhere. Giants to little people to cruiserweights to my size and people with charisma, people without charisma and I could help them all I feel and give them a little bit of knowledge. I feel like in the wrestling business I am more like a chameleon and I adapt to what I have to do and that is just how I feel about myself, so I am just hoping that this will open a lot of eyes and you see that the right people are there to help you out and you succeed and come in and soak up everything you can like a sponge."

What is it he is looking to focus on with incoming students:

"I want the total package but even if a guy doesn't have the body but he can find the gimmick it can work or we could have a masterpiece that can't do anything so we'd have to work around the edges of it and get him comfortable to do what he can do and look good out there. It is one of those things where you can have the perfect specimen of what you feel the wrestler should look like but if he has no charisma or substance it is not going to happen so you've got to work around it. Whoever comes in, I will talk to them and get to know them and see what they got and start working from there and that is all you really can do."

What kind of approach is he going to take with his students?:

"I am just brutally honest. That is all I can say. I am nice (of course) and I am genuinely a nice dude but I am just honest. I'll be like; this is what you did, this is what you should have done and next time try to apply it. I don't want to sugar coat anything because if you sugar coat it you are just going to think that you are doing it right and keep doing it and you are going to get into the habit of doing that and someone is going to say that you've been doing stuff wrong for years. What does that do for you? You would need to hit the reverse button and try it over and do it over and learn it over again. So just be honest and tell them how it is and that is my approach. Some people might be sensitive and have the boo-boo face but it will toughen them up and put another layer of skin on them and they will thank you later for it."

Who were the mentors that helped Heath by giving him real feedback throughout his career?

"Double A- Arn Anderson. He will tell you right now if you are the sh*ts or not. Taker, he'll tell you and Cena, he'll tell you, Edge was a hard critic on me but he helped me in so many ways that he probably doesn't even realize it. Dr. Tom Prichard was a heck of a trainer, friend, talent and just brutally honest. Norman Smiley was and it just helps you. Hell, Mr. Hughes when I first started was and he told me exactly what I was getting myself into and me being 19-20 (years old) and being hungry-hungry and trying to chase this dream, I would have done anything."

The recent success of fellow 3MB members Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre:

"Those two guys are like my brothers and I love them to death and I am so happy for both of them. Jinder is doing great, Drew is doing great, they are both great and all I can say is that I am happy for them. I just need to beat up Brock to become the Universal Champion and we can all unite like Transformers and make that big 3MB comeback again but I am pretty sure that is not going to happen (laughing) so that is like words in the wind. But I am very happy for them and they are awesome dudes and hopefully they get more success."

His free agent storyline in 2016:

"It was so much fun. I wish they would have kept it going and I just wish that somehow they would have kept it going but winning the tag titles and getting that contract was amazing. But in my mind and what I was thinking was as a free agent on Smackdown and doing all the interruptions and all this stuff it was getting steam and you could feel the energy when you walked in the building and when I would break up stuff and do all that nonsense, it was one of those things that could have gotten me sympathy. If we would have lost that night and if I showed up to RAW the following week and did the same thing on RAW to try and get an opportunity again and to keep it going but they just wanted to end the storyline I guess. It was amazing winning the titles and it was Rhyno's first time ever winning the tag team titles and was cool because he tagged with guys like Tajiri and Stone Cold Steve Austin and never got the titles and here comes Heath Slater and we win the titles. The story was good, the people were good and it was a lot of fun."

Did he try to work elsewhere during that time:

" I tried. I tried to do that. I wanted to wrestle in EVOLVE and work with Drew and I wanted to do stuff like that. Guys that I know and worked before that won't act a fool and go AWOL and be out for themselves, lets have a good match and let people believe this storyline that I am doing and I pitched it but they turned that down real quick."

Batting the WWE Legends and Hall of Famers during the RAW 1000 lead up:

"That was a blast for me being honest, just 100% a blast. I was literally like reliving the fear of my childhood in the ring as a grown adult man. Having Big Van Vader, Sid Vicious, Rikishi, Piper, DDP, Doink...well Doink wasn't that scary but it is just like Animal from Legion of Doom and you are like HOLY HELL, is this really happening?

"It was just so crazy to me and so surreal and performing with them enjoying it and coming back and being out there after however long it was and seeing them having a good time with it was just like a double win and it was a hell of a segment. We didn't know which legend was coming back and I'd be in the ring talking some junk and it was all around good for me, them and the fans."

PLEASE CREDIT The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling for this transcription. For this and every other episode of The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling as well as The EXCLUSIVE Triple Threat Podcast featuring Shane Douglas & TMPToW please subscribe to us on iTunes, Podomatic, Player FM and Tune In Radio. Follow us on Twitter @TwoManPowerTrip