Drew McIntyre had to talk Heath Slater into appearing on Raw

If you enjoyed Heath Slater’s return to WWE on Monday Night Raw this week, even if it was just for one night, you can thank Drew McIntyre for that.

As the WWE champion told talkSPORT, his old 3MB running buddy was hesitant at first and had to be talked into showing 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. He’s ready for the next stage and he’s not sure about going backwards, so I made it clear to him like ‘trust me, this isn’t going to be like anything you’ve done.’ The first thing I did outside of WWE was ICW and I showed my real personality and it caused a buzz and went viral on the underground, but if you get the chance to show your real personality on RAW that’s going to set you on the right course. I know he’s been working out hard, so people will get to see what he looks like now and it also advances our story – everybody wins. We finally got him on board and got him on the show – he absolutely killed it, like I knew he would.”

It ultimately paid off for all involved, at least in this writer’s opinion. Slater showed that he can be a valuable asset for anyone willing to take a chance on him while McIntyre’s status remains. It also made for good television for fans at home.

That’s what matters most, right?