Heath Slater Says He Was Burned Out in WWE, Wishes He Had Spoken Up More, Says He Got Tired Of Hearing ‘No’

Heath Slater appeared on Lilian Garcia’s Chasing Glory and discussed his WWE release and how burned out he was at the end of his run. Slater was among the many releases made by WWE earlier this month amid the pandemic and talked with Garcia about how burned out he was at the end.

Slater also talked about what he wished he had done differently and why he didn’t push harder to make his ideas work. You can check out some highlights and the full podcast below:

On being burned out in his job in WWE: “All this craziness happened. Yeah, I lost my job, all that stuff. But I was burnt out, man. Like, burned the hell out. Fact. I knew it, family knew it, my co-workers knew it. I was just burnt out. And it’s like, you know, 14 years — four years developmental, 10 years on the road — to where it’s like, you can be promised, you can be told, you can have it in your hand and be ready. And it just changes out on the drop of a dime, you know. And then it’s one of those things, it’s like, putting everyone over for 10 years, it can take a toll on somebody. You know, confidence, and you know, your drive, your fire. All of that, and it’s like, my goodness. I do everything you asked. I can’t get a bone? That type of thing.”

On what he wished he had done differently: “I went through those a lot. A lot. And I wish that would have took 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 15 other damn great reasons why we can do it this way. But, why are we going that way?’ Which, you know, it takes a toll on you a little bit.”

On why he didn’t push harder: “I think what it was in my younger days, was the whole — I did go in there and try to talk. And I did go in there and try to push. But they just [said] ‘No, no.’ You know, I heard ‘No’ too many times, to where I literally said, ‘You know what? S**t. I ain’t gonna push no more s**t. Because when I do, it goes nowhere. Or if I do pitch something good, they give it to someone else,’ to where I’m just sitting there like, ‘Well, hello! Come on now.’ It’s just one of those things were when you get tired of hearing ‘No, no, no, no, no, not for you, not for you, not for you … you can’t do that, no, no, no.’ You kind of start believing it. You kind of start damn believing it.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Chasing Glory with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.