On the June 11, 2012 episode of "Raw", Slater began appearing in segments involving WWE veterans returning to "Raw" as a build-up to "Raw's" 1000th episode on July 23. 2012. In the segments, Slater would enter the ring and issue challenges to "the so-called legends" or "any former WWE champion", which resulted in him losing a series of squash matches, with the first two losses to Vader and Sycho Sid. He was further humiliated in a comedic segment by Roddy Piper, Wendi Richter and Cyndi Lauper. He defeated Doink the Clown on the July 2, 2012 edition of "Raw", but following the match, Diamond Dallas Page came to the ring and performed the Diamond Cutter on Slater. On the July 9, 2012 episode of "Raw", after losing to Sin Cara, Slater berated the audience and issued a challenge "to any former champion" and guaranteed he would defeat him; Bob Backlund accepted the challenge. Shortly after Backlund entered, Slater hit him with a cheap shot. Backlund then applied the crossface chickenwing submission hold and kept it locked in long after Slater had tapped out. In following matches Scotty 2 Hotty, Rikishi and Road Warrior Animal all defeated Slater in further matches.