Slater and Buck continued to perform in the tag team division without Parker. At World War 3, Slater participated in the inaugural namesake match for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship, which Randy Savage won. After continuing to lose matches, Buck eventually abandoned Slater during a match against The American Males on the March 2, 1996 episode of "Saturday Night", leading to Slater losing the handicap match to American Males, thus marking the end of Stud Stable. On the March 30 episode of "Saturday Night", Slater unsuccessfully challenged Ric Flair for the World Heavyweight Championship.