Heath Slater Talks His WWE Release, Where He Sees Himself Down The Road

For many former WWE talent, these last two weeks have been quite the emotional roller coaster. With all the releases that took place, many are still trying to process what just happened, and what's next for them. For Heath Slater, he has taken great strides to find some type of positive outcome towards what happened.

"It's one of those things where you can either let it get you down, or you can keep trying, keep pushing and keep moving, you know," Slater stated on the Chasing Glory podcast."I'm not a quitter, so, it's crazy for me because, in wrestling, the people are everything. If we can't go to a venue and perform with a crowd and everything, it's just one of those things where like it doesn't happen. You just can't let it get you down because then if you do let it get to you, it's going to mess with you physically, it's going to mess with you mentally. With me, I'm just trying my best to stay positive, just because the world is crazy, and we don't need to let the craziness consume us. You gotta stay positive, you gotta keep pushing. Whatever your aspirations are, you gotta keep pushing."

Looking back on what he's been through, Slater believes that the efforts he put in during his 14-year career in the WWE were very under-appreciated.

"Yeah, I lost my job, but I was burnt out man," Slater announced. "I was burnt the hell out; it was a fact. I knew it, my family knew it, my co-workers knew it, I was just burnt out. Fourteen years – four years in developmental, 10 years on the road – to where it was like you can be promised, you can be told, you can have it in your hand and be ready, but it changes in a drop of a dime, you know. It's one of those things where you're putting everyone over for 10 years and it can take a toll on somebody. You know, confidence, your drive, all of that, and I couldn't get a bone, you know. I went through those a lot.

"I wish that I could have taken more control, you know, walking in there saying, 'why is this happening? Why are we doing this? Why can't we do it this way? I have many reasons why we can do it this way. But, why are we going this way?' It takes a toll on you a little bit."

Now that he's a free man, Slater is looking forward to where his career will end up. He calls this new transformation "Heath 2.0."

"The way I'm feeling now I just want to see where I'll be two years from now, that's where my mindset is," Slater said excitedly. "I have not been this motivated, and another thing, I have never been outside of the WWE. You know, I never got to go to Japan. I've never been to any other federation. AEW is amazing, they're doing good stuff, [they're] good people. Impact is doing good things. I've never ever got to go to ROH; they have so much good talent coming from there. Even NWA is back up with their old school stuff.

"There are so many cool things out there that you can do, that's what excites me. I want to dabble into some of this because I have never in my life done it. This is like a new journey for me."

You can view Heath Slater's full interview above. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Chasing Glory-Lilian Garcia with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.