Slater began wrestling in 1968 with Mike Graham at Thomas Richard Robinson High School in Tampa, Florida.

Slater went to the University of Tampa, where he played football in addition to wrestling (among his teammates were John Matuszak and Paul Orndorff).

[1] After leaving CWF, Slater worked in California alongside The Von Brauners, Moondog Mayne, Pat Patterson, and Ray Stevens.

Slater teamed up with Bob Orton, Jr., and began a feud with Ric Flair where they attacked with an aided piledriver in an attempt to end his career.

The team collected a bounty from Harley Race, the reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion for apparently ending Flair's career.

[15] On May 13, 1989, Slater and Danny Spivey unsuccessfully challenged Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu for the World Tag Team Championship.

Slater returned to Jim Crockett Promotions, then renamed World Championship Wrestling on the August 26, 1989 episode of World Championship Wrestling as a member of J-Tex Corporation, facing Sting in a match, which he lost by disqualification after his J-Tex teammates Terry Funk and The Great Muta attacked Sting.

He replaced an injured Terry Funk to team up with The Great Muta at Clash of the Champions VIII in a losing effort against Ric Flair and Sting.

[20] The match ended in a disqualification after Terry Funk placed a plastic bag over Ric Flair's head.

[23] Hardliners' first match as a team took place on the June 29 episode of WorldWide by defeating enhancement talents Mike Jackson and Tim Parker.

[24] Hardliners began a rivalry with Steiner Brothers but Scott suffered an injury and they wrestled Rick and his different tag team partners throughout the summer of 1991.

[26] The team disbanded in the fall of 1991 and Slater competed in the Florida-based International Championship Wrestling Alliance (ICWA) for the rest of 1991.

On the July 4 episode of Saturday Night, Slater returned to WCW television by teaming with Greg Valentine to defeat Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Big Josh.

Later that night, Slater and Barbarian challenged The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes) to a match for the United States Tag Team Championship,[27] which took place on the July 12 episode of Main Event, with Slater and Barbarian defeating Fabulous Freebirds to win the United States Tag Team Championship and becoming the final holders of the title as it was retired on July 31.

[4][28] At Clash of the Champions XX, Slater and Valentine lost to the team of Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton.

On the December 3, 1994 episode of Saturday Night, Slater replaced Terry Funk in Col. Robert Parker's group Stud Stable.

[33] On the July 22 episode of Saturday Night, Slater and Buck defeated Harlem Heat to win the World Tag Team Championship due to an interference from Col.

[40] On the March 30 episode of Saturday Night, Slater unsuccessfully challenged Ric Flair for the World Heavyweight Championship.

At Slamboree, Slater and Earl Robert Eaton defeated Alex Wright and Disco Inferno in a Lethal Lottery match and then defeated Jim Duggan and VK Wallstreet in the second match of the Lethal Lottery to qualify for the Battlebowl battle royal to determine the #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship at The Great American Bash.

The two began teaming with each other on the July 6 episode of Saturday Night, where they were paired with VK Wallstreet against Lex Luger, Sting and Randy Savage in a losing effort.

[43] Rough n Ready lost the majority of their matches but received five opportunities against Harlem Heat for the World Tag Team Championship on WCW television during the next two months but failed to win the title.

Slater claimed that the night before the incident, he had received "a shot of morphine and two forty milligram Oxycontins" at an emergency room, related to his numerous back injuries.

[51] Wrestling trainer and close friend Les Thatcher acknowledged that Slater had died on his Twitter account.