Heath Fondly Remembers His Anti-Legend Gimmick And The Experience Of Wrestling Vader

In the six weeks leading up to "WWE Raw 1000," various legends made appearances by confronting Heath Slater. Now known as Heath in Impact Wrestling, "The One Man Band" reflected on his anti-legend gimmick during a K&S Wrestle Fest live stream. "I literally was the guy that was just happy to be in the ring with them," he said.

The original plan, Heath disclosed, was for the legends to be thrown out there each week with whomever. Since he was booked to start the program with Vader on the June 11, 2012, episode of "Raw," Heath decided he wanted this to be his "little gimmick" and went to Vince McMahon. After hearing Heath's pitch, McMahon looked at him and asked, "You're willing to do that?" to which Heath replied, "Hell Yeah I am, let's go."

When going over the match with Vader, Heath was scared "s**tless" when Vader wanted to do the Vadersault for the finish. "You have to remember, this is grandpa Vader, not the Vader that could do the moonsault," he said. Thankfully for Heath, who didn't want to come across as disrespectful by turning down the finish, Mike Rotunda was the agent for the match. After giggling, Rotunda suggested the Vader Bomb would be good enough and Vader concurred.

In the weeks following his loss to Vader, Heath had a framed gold record smashed over his head by Cyndi Lauper; was powerbombed by Sycho Sid; diamond cuttered by Diamond Dallas Page after defeating Doink the Clown; placed in the cross-face chicken wing by Bob Backlund; stinkfaced by Rikishi; manhandled by Road Warrior Animal on "Smackdown;" and defeated by Lita, with assistance from the APA, in a No Disqualification, No Count-Out match on "Raw 1000."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "K&S Wrestle Fest" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.