A new report has claimed that the planned return of Elias was pulled as his new character was too similar to WWE legend “Macho Man” Randy Savage.
Elias hasn’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 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 ends, the star places 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.”
However, the vignettes stopped abruptly and no further mention has been made of the character.
In an unexpected twist, a new report has claimed that Elias’ potential return with his new persona was scrapped due to the character’s similarity to WWE Hall of Famer Randy Savage. Wrestle Votes noted that Elias was now back to “square 1” after Vince McMahon “didn’t like” the new character.
Interesting note on Elias, source states they had no end plan for graveyard vignettes. Just shot them to kill off the “music” gimmick. His initial rebranding weeks back looked to similar to Randy Savage w/ colorful trunks & beard so Vince & co didn’t like it. Back to square 1.
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) December 3, 2021
The former NXT Superstar signed with WWE back in 2014, initially appearing on the black and gold brand as The Drifter.
The Pittsburgh native arrived on the main roster in 2017, before going on to clash with the likes of The Undertaker, Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens.
Ryker and Elias initially began teaming together in December 2020 and appeared regularly on RAW. However, the team split in May after losing to RAW Tag Team Champions AJ Styles and Omos. After the acrimonious split the two Superstars faced off in numerous matches including a Strap Match.
The feud came to a head two months later with Ryker defeating his rival on RAW in a Symphony of Destruction Match.