Popular faction to reunite, new tag team title holders: 4 ways WWE could book former champion's return 

According to recent reports, former WWE Superstar Heath Slater's contract with IMPACT Wrestling is set to expire shortly, with neither party being able to reach a deal.

If Slater does indeed leave IMPACT, then there will be a strong portion of fans wanting to see him return to World Wrestling Entertainment. The 40-year-old was signed to the company from 2006 to 2020, where he worked with many top names.

The current regime has shown over the past year that they are keen to see many former stars return to the company, therefore we are going to take a look at four ways WWE could book Heath Slater's return.

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#4. WWE's band gets back together

One of the most polarizing acts in World Wrestling Entertainment's recent history is 3MB (a.k.a. Three Man Band). Comprised of Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal, the randomly thrown-together trio was at the bottom of the card during their time together in the mid-2010s.

Speaking with Faction 919, McIntyre spoke about how Vince McMahon brought the three of them together to form 3MB.

"In WWE, you can't just be the same forever. It gets boring. You can't just be angry all the time. Even when you're winning titles. I was winning titles and just scowling all the time, for some reason, because I just wasn't relaxed. I felt like I had to be that badass all the time." Drew added: "He was trying to bring something out of us while at the same time couldn't trust us in a prominent role. But [thought], 'Okay, let's see if these guys can come out of their shell a little bit more with Heath' and that's why 3MB was put together." [H/T: SEScoops]

Following the group's breakup, Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal have both gone on to have great success as singles stars, with them both capturing the WWE title. Now all being much older and having built great legacies for themselves, a reunion of 3MB may actually be taken seriously by today's audience.

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#3. Forming an alliance with the biggest of stars

Whilst he mainly worked as a low to mid-card superstar, Heath Slater did brush shoulders with many main event superstars throughout his time in WWE, such as Brock Lesnar, Chris Jericho and John Cena.

If Slater does return, a big name he could work with in a tag team is The American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes. With very little creative direction for Rhodes at the moment, a pairing such as this could provide some great entertainment before Cody begins his road to WrestleMania 40.

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#2. Heath Slater goes for WWE gold

Slater was no stranger to championship gold throughout his WWE career, having won multiple tag team titles. However, a major singles belt has always eluded him.

One direction that creative could turn to if Slater makes his comeback after his IMPACT contract expires could be to go after the United States or Intercontinental Championship.

Having been a part of the wrestling business for almost 20 years, many fans have seen his various ups and downs and would therefore have a strong level of support behind him if he decided to go for gold.

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#1. The One Man Band returns to his roots

In 2010, Heath Slater along with seven other 'rookies' debuted on WWE TV on the original game show version of NXT. Before the company's developmental show was the beast that it is today, young stars on NXT would have to compete in absurd challenges to get noticed.

Following the first season, Slater and the rest of the cast formed The Nexus, a group hellbent on disrupting the status quo in WWE. Whilst their initial chapter in the company was game changing, they quickly fell into obscurity after losing a main event match at SummerSlam.

With NXT now much more popular and legitimate, Heath Slater like many other veteran performers, could end up performing in WWE's third brand when he returns.

During a recent exclusive interview with Sportskeeda Wrestling, Heath Slater surprisingly revealed that the Nexus almost made a shock return to NXT in 2020.

"We were supposed to be at whatever that NXT was," Slater said. "You know how they do the NXT before WrestleMania? Whatever the big blow-off show for NXT is, we were supposed to be front row. We all show up, they're looking like, 'What the hell's happening?' and then we pretty much do what we did in 2010, but it didn't happen." [H/T Sportskeeda]

It will be interesting to see where we see Heath pop up next.