Elias is back on Monday Night Raw, or is he?
The Raw after WrestleMania is known for big returns and being one of the more unusual nights of the year and the April 4th episode of the red brand was no different.
After Cody Rhodes had already made his return to Raw, Kevin Owens came to the ring to address the crowd. Owens reflected on his loss to Stone Cold Steve Austin in the main event of night one of the spectacular. However, he claimed that he only lost because he was nursing a back injury. KO explained that he sustained the injury while lifting (very heavy) weights the day before the show.
He added that he should have called the match off due to the serious issue but pushed through. Owens said it was impressive that Austin had a match, but his win should be questioned because of the injury.
At this Owens was interrupted by Elias. Except he wasn’t. The former NXT star appeared wearing trunks, clean shaven, with shorter hair.
Owens was initially baffled by the spectacle in front of him, eventually regaining his composure saying that he remembered who the star was. Although, bizarrely Elias said that wasn’t his name, and he was Elias’ younger brother Ezekiel. Not that Owens was buying what the star was selling.
Owens said that he hated liars, but Elias called Owens a liar, commenting on how he tried to trick Steve Austin before getting Stunned. KO said that he never liked Elias, and likes him even less now. He counted down from ten trying to get Ezekiel to leave but he didn’t. Instead, Owens marched out of the ring.
The name is Ezekiel, @FightOwensFight. #WWERawpic.twitter.com/Y6Pv0QMw2k
— WWE (@WWE) April 5, 2022
Elias hadn’t been on WWE television since he was defeated by Jaxson Ryker in a Symphony of Destruction match on the July 19th episode of Monday Night Raw. After the match, the former NXT Superstar then disappeared from view without any explanation.
In August 2021 a number of vignettes began appearing relating to the star, hinting that he was going to be heading in a totally new direction. The first vignette aired on August 9th with him standing next to a roaring fire while clips from his match with Ryker flash in and out, accompanied by chants of “Walk With Elias.”
As the video ended, the star placed his guitar on the fire, with the voiceover from the star saying that “WWE used to stand for Walk With Elias, but Elias is dead.”
Despite this, the vignettes stopped abruptly and no further mention has been made of the character.
It was reported in December that a planned comeback had been scrapped after Vince McMahon said Elias’ new look was too similar to Macho Man Randy Savage.