Heath Slater opened up about his time in WWE and how he was burned out for a few different reasons prior to getting released.

Speaking on the latest “Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia” podcast, Slater discussed how he was feeling prior to getting laid off.

“Yeah, I lost my job … but I was burnt out, man. Burnt the hell out,” he explained. “I knew it. Family knew it. My coworkers knew it. I was just burned out. Fourteen years; four years developmental, ten years on the road. To where it’s like, you can be promised, you can be told, you can even have it in your hand and ready, and it just changes at the drop of a dime.”

“Then it’s one of those things where like putting everyone over for ten years will take a toll on somebody,” Slater continued. “Confidence, and your drive, your fire, all of that … it’s like, my goodness … I do everything you ask and, like, I can’t get a bone? That type of thing. I went through those a lot. A lot! And I wish I would’ve took more control. Walked in and said, ‘Why is this happening? Why are we doing this? Why can’t we do it this way? I have fifteen other damn great reasons why we could it this way, but why are we going that way?’ It takes a toll on you a little bit.”

As we previously reported … Slater was released the same day as Rusev, Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins, Drake Maverick, Kurt Angle, EC3, Lio Rush and others. The company claims this was done to save money due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on WWE.

Heath says he was not expecting the release since the company had said they had the resources to weather the storm, but is incredibly thankful for all the time he had in the company.

Slater also talks about his attempts to pitch ideas to management/creative and how it never worked out, despite repeated efforts.

“I heard no too many times. To where I literally said, ‘You know what? Sh*t. I ain’t gonna pitch no more sh*t. Because when I do, it goes nowhere. Or if I do pitch something good, they give it to someone else,” said Slater. “It’s just one of those things where like … when you get tired of hearing no, no, no, no, no. Not for you, not for you, not for you, not for you. You can’t do that, no, no, no. You kinda start believing. You know? You kinda start damn believing it!”

Adding, “Getting fired; I really believe I needed this. The times are crazy, the times are weird now because you can’t go out and make money and all that stuff. But I really believe I needed this to get the fire, get the hunger, focus. I can honestly tell you that, out of the last four to five years, besides me and [Rhyno] winning the tag titles – which was an awesome little run – I have been so burned out and just not even really caring. To where this happened, to where I have to say thank you for lighting that fire for me again.”

Listen to the full interview below, where Heath talks more about all the promotions he’s currently interested in working for – including AEW, Impact Wrestling and NWA.