Former WWE Star Was Forced To Change Look To Avoid Resembling AEW’s Cope

Published: Apr 1, 2025 by Jamie Toolan | Last Updated: Apr 1, 2025 by Jamie Toolan

Jamie has been covering the world of wrestling for four years and currently holds the position of Assistant Editor of WrestleTalk.com. During his time working for WrestleTalk.com he has written and published over 4,000 news and feature articles covering events and happenings from WWE, AEW, TNA and a variety of international and independent wrestling promotions.

WWE/AEW

A former WWE star has recalled being forced to change their look in order to avoid resembling AEW’s Cope.

Unlike the developmental brand we’ve known for the last 13 years, WWE NXT originally debuted in 2010 with a game show format, pitting eight different stars against one another in weekly challenges to earn a spot on the main roster.

One of those eight hopefuls was Heath Slater, who despite not winning, proved to be one of the longest tenured stars that came from the show’s first season.

While Slater would carve out a spot on the roster for the next decade following his time in NXT, he was originally told that his appearance resembled then WWE star Cope (fka Edge).

Speaking to Kenny McIntosh for Inside the Ropes Magazine Issue 55, Slater recalled being forced into making alterations to his look and character:

“Dr. Tom (Prichard) pulled eight of us in the room, and he had an email saying “we need your eight best down there that are ready for TV.

“I was one of the eight. Next thing I know, they thought that I looked too much like Edge. My hair was long, I had the long coat, I had long tights with emblems on the side that resembled, but didn’t look like [Edge’s]. But they told me before I got called up to go to NXT that I need to cut my hair off, gotta go to trunks and all this stuff to where I’m like, are you just changing everything about me?”

“I was a bad guy in developmental. They wanted me to be a good guy on television to the point that they were stripping from us everything that we’d done, and now we were going on this game show and being people that we don’t know how to be.”

Slater then recalled what was originally pitched to him regarding the NXT show format, which would have seen contestants earn points by way of in-ring match results, something that didn’t make it to the final product:

“But the way that it was explained to us was that it was going to be like a points bracket system. If you win, you get five points. If you lose, you get zero. If it’s a draw, you get one, stuff like that. But then again, it was nothing like that.

“It became each week us going to TV not knowing what the hell we’re doing. Not knowing if it’s a match or a keg carry contest, or we’re having a tag match or an obstacle course.

“It became a running joke, to where each week I’d be like, “Gosh, you hear what we’re doing? We’re having a hot dog eating contest!” I feel like we were guinea pigs on television with a game show that they were trying to make good.”

Following his WWE release Slater joined TNA Wrestling, competing for the promotion until 2023. He has since been competing as free agent on the independent scene across various promotions.

Of the original WWE NXT season contestants only Wade Barrett remains signed to the company, with the SmackDown commentator winning the first season in front of runner-up David Otunga.

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Transcript via Inside the Ropes