6. Will Heath Slater Be Able To Get a SmackDown Live Contract Tonight?
Heath Slater, who is currently calling himself the hottest free agent in Professional Wrestling, will face former ECW World Heavyweight Champion Rhyno on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live. If Slater wins, he gets a SmackDown Live contract. Below is what WWE posted regarding this:
“Despite going unselected in the 2016 Brand Extension Draft, Heath Slater may ultimately end up on Team Blue … under one rather painful condition: SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan informed Slater that in order to get his contract, he must overcome Rhyno! It’s worth mentioning that he’s the very same Man Beast who has Gored the Blue Brand hopeful not once, but twice already!
Will Rhyno return to action with a bang and Gore #SignHeathSlater from our Twitter feeds forever? It looks like we have to wait until tonight at 8/7 C on USA Network to find out, babaaayyy!!!”
Update: Slater failed to get a SmackDown contract as he was defeated by Rhyno on SmackDown Live. Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon later decided in a backstage segment that they will offer Slater a contract anyways due to his fighting spirit, but Slater came into their office and ran his mouth, resulting in him not getting the contract.
5. Tommy Dreamer Reveals Why He Denied Returning Full Time To WWE For The Brand Extension
Former ECW Champion Tommy Dreamer appeared on Busted Open radio and noted that WWE contacted him to return full time to the company for the Brand Extension. However, Dreamer revealed he turned down the full time offer as he can’t give up on his ‘House of Hardcore’ promotion. Below is what he said:
“Yes, WWE has reached out to me. I was actually scheduled to be at the Draft and then, Dreamer’s travel subject to change, they switched it on me. The week before, I was there. They were in Michigan. I was visiting my family in Michigan. On a lovely 23 days on the road, I got to see my family for halfasecond in Michigan. They’ve offered me a contract and I really have so many commitments to my own company as well as the charities and to other shows, I can’t sign a contract. And I told them I will do just like I did with the Wyatts, in the sense of I was not under contract when I wrestled that whole time back in WWE. I love WWE, but I just can’t sign a contract right now. My life, and I can’t give up on my own company, so I basically had to say ‘Thank you. If you want me to come in, then I will do the best to my abilities in all that I do, but if not, that’s cool. Hope we can still be friends’. So that’s where we’re at.”
Below is what he said about choosing to continue with his House of Hardcore promotion:
“I don’t know if it’s the right decision. At times, I feel like it’s the closing days of the eighties, when the territories are coming at you, but I don’t think I made an enemy with WWE. It’s just I can’t give up on my dreams. I have a strong following with House of Hardcore. I can’t give up on that… I can’t give up on my commitments and, to me, I think it would be better for everyone to get along.”
