WWE News: Heath Slater to make debut as referee on Monday's Raw?

What's the story?

WWE.com reported that newly minted referee Heath Slater, might call his first match on Monday's WWE Raw.

Will the 'One Man Band' get some experience in before potentially calling a match at the upcoming TLC PPV.

In case you missed it . . .

Heath Slater and Rhyno were the first-ever Smackdown Live Tag Team Champions.

Since their move to Raw in this year's Superstar Shake Up, they've been little more than jobbers to upper tier teams like the Revival and AOP.

Since he was preparing for what he believes as a slam dunk win at TLC leading to full-time GM status, Baron Corbin 'went through the books' and 'crunched the numbers'.

He said that there was only room on Raw for either Slater or Rhyno, not both. He pitted them in a match last week with the winner keeping a roster spot, while the loser would be fired.

Slater reluctantly defeated his friend and kept his spot on Raw. Later in the night, however, Corbin revealed that the spot was as a referee and not an active competitor and Slater was heartbroken.

What will become of Slater's new job?

The heart of the matter

Ringsidenews.com carried WWE's announcement of Slater potentially refereeing his first match on the upcoming episode of Raw.

WWE.com's statement on the matter is below:

Thanks to a cruel stipulation ordered by Raw “General Manager-Elect” Baron Corbin, Heath Slater defeated Rhyno to keep his job on the red brand, leading to the firing of his longtime friend. As Rhyno departed Raw for the last time, Slater was approached by Corbin, who informed the saddened Superstar that he would stay on Team Red not as a Superstar, but as a referee. Clearly, this didn’t sit well with The One-Man Band, but a job is a job. He’s got kids, after all.

The upcoming episode of Raw is the go-home show before TLC, and his new status could play into the PPV.

What's next?

Slater has always been an entertaining part of whatever show he is a part of.

Corbin's 'demotion' of Slater from wrestler to referee is another step in his abuse of power.

Slater is crushed after defeating his friend.

Corbin is clearly of the mindset that Braun Strowman will not be able to compete next Sunday.

Making Slater a referee is another slap into the faces of the good guys on Raw. Since a big deal was made out of it, it wouldn't make sense not to have Slater ref a match.

Will he referee a random match on Raw before the TLC PPV or will it have implications on the PPV?

Corbin likely made Slater a ref so that he can 'have a referee in his pocket'. He wants to stack the deck in his favor as much as he possibly can in order to become permanent GM of Raw.

The only question is that will Slater referee Corbin's match at TLC, and if so, will he call it down the middle, call it in favor of Corbin, or screw Corbin.

We'll have to wait for Raw and then TLC to see if this bears any worthy fruit.