What’s the story?
As per Cageside Seats, there is some speculation that Heath Slater and Rhyno may not be a tag team going forward. It is being reported that Slater and Rhyno could both go their separate way as singles wrestlers.
In case you didn’t know...
Heath Slater and Rhyno, who were both drafted from SmackDown LIVE to RAW during the Superstar Shake-up, were last seen on the 12th June 2017 episode of Monday Night RAW in a match against The Miz and a “Bear”.
The bear was initially an unnamed enhancement talent in a bear costume but had later switched places with Dean Ambrose. Ambrose had subsequently unmasked himself, beaten down The Miz and dragged Slater’s arm over an unconscious Miz, giving Slater and Rhyno the win.
On the same night, Rhyno and Slater were also a part of the group of wrestlers that were called by Kurt Angle to separate a brawling Brock Lesnar and Samoa Joe. Slater and Rhyno haven’t made any appearances on RAW as a team since then.
The heart of the matter
Rhyno and Heath Slater have not been making appearances on WWE’s Live Events as a team and have been seen competing in singles matches instead. Rhyno had also recently face off against Kalisto in a singles match on Main Event.
It is being rumoured that Rhyno and Heath Slater could go separate ways, disbanding their team in the process and their booking at Live Events seems to be an indication of the same.
Also read: WWE News: Heath Slater jealous of Sasha Banks’ action figure
After his win over The Miz, Heath Slater had also tweeted and retweeted several messages about him going for the Intercontinental title, now that he had beaten the champion. One of his Tweets can be seen below:
Heath Slater has previously mentioned in interviews that the Intercontinental Championship is his dream title and his Tweet might just be an indication of his future title aspirations.
What’s next?
With rumours pointing towards a split between Heath Slater and Rhyno, the coming weeks could get interesting.
The Miz is currently embroiled in a feud with Dean Ambrose over the Intercontinental Championship and it is therefore unclear how Slater could possibly be inserted in the title picture right now, as the feud between The Miz and Ambrose would likely go on till the Great Balls of Fire PPV, at the very least.
Author’s take
Heath Slater has a lot of charisma and is definitely very popular with the WWE Universe. A singles run for him could actually be really good for RAW’s mid-card. As far as Rhyno is concerned, I don’t see much of a future for the ECW original in the WWE.
Rhyno has a political career that he needs to take care of, and his role in the WWE is likely to be reduced to a glorified enhancement talent, if he is to stick around.
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