How Has WWE Not Done Anything With Elias?
A few years ago WWE superstar Elias was a dependable act that always got a reaction from fans every week. If he was a face, the fans cheered. If he was a heel, the fans booed. He delivered on whatever was asked of him and seemed destined for bigger things. But then he disappeared. He hasn’t been seen on television in over six months now and recent reports suggest that he has been completely forgotten about creatively. How could this happen to a star with such a great look, a confident charisma, and a gimmick that connected so well with the WWE Universe?
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How Did Elias Fall So Far?
The seeds for his downfall were planted in 2020. He scored a big victory over King Corbin at Night One of WrestleMania 36. This should have been a huge moment for his career. The only problem was that it happened in a year without fans in attendance. Elias’ character needed that fan interaction, and the lack of it dulled his gimmick. Still, he made the best of it, and a WrestleMania victory appeared to show that he was noticed behind the scenes. Whatever upward trajectory he may have been on the verge of quickly crumbled, however, when he tore a pectoral muscle in May.
Elias returned, drafted to Raw, in October, and immediately turned heel with an attack on Jeff Hardy. To put him in a feud with such a big name right off the bat gave fans hope that Elias hadn’t been forgotten. A few weeks later though the feud was already over and Elias was defeated. He then moved on to form an odd pairing with Jaxson Ryker, a wrestler who was not over backstage or with the fans. Even though Elias found himself in a match with Braun Strowman at Fastlane and a Raw Tag Team Championship match, he always came out on the losing end and never made it past the low midcard parts of the show. To make it worse, his pairing with Ryker ended in a feud which again saw Elias losing. After this Elias disappeared, only to reappear in some odd and misguided vignettes weeks later that saw Elias throwing his guitar in a fire and walking away. The character that made him so popular with fans was dead, and since we haven’t seen him since, his career appears to have died along with it.
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Elias Was A Star Poised For Big Things
It’s hard to accept where Elias is now when fans have seen where he’s been. He had modest success as Elias Samson on NXT, usually eating losses to the rising stars of the brand, but he never failed to get over with the crowd. This led to him being called up to Raw in 2017. As a heel, he continued to lose, but he always found himself in big moments, feuding with Jason Jordan, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins. His best moments found him in an Elimination Chamber match and a memorable segment with John Cena at WrestleMania 34.
While he may have suffered losses, his character did not suffer. His charisma and connection with the audience made that impossible. The first thing fans noticed with Elias was his look. He was massive and his beard gave him a more than striking resemblance to “The Macho Man” Randy Savage. To go with that look was a great gimmick, that while done before, had seldom been done so effectively. Every week Elias came out, guitar in hand, and in song ripped his opponent and the city he was in. It could’ve been a cheap boo, but his performance always made it entertaining. The perfect example of this was in October 2018 when, in a segment with Kevin Owens at a Raw episode in Seattle, Elias ripped the city’s defunct basketball team, the SuperSonics. This resulted in the loudest and longest boos to be heard by a WWE crowd in years. The look on Elias’ face was priceless. He had everyone in his hands and was in wrestler heaven.
Those boos turned to cheers when he turned face. Week after week he would get fans to chant “Walk With Elias” at the top of their lungs. This resulted in the biggest highlight of his career with multiple victories over future world champion Bobby Lashley.
His run as a face was short-lived, however. By the next year, he was back to being a heel. His biggest spots now involved being pummeled by names from the past. Jeff Jarrett, The Road Dogg, The Undertaker, and John Cena all beat him up to the fan’s delight. While this kept him in the spotlight, the moment was never about him.
It’s not too late to fix the fall of Elias. He’s still young, the fans still remember, and with a depleted and watered down roster, Raw and SmackDown are in desperate need of fresh and charismatic faces. If you’re looking for talent, Vince, you’ve got one right there waiting. If you’re all about not just wrestling but sports entertainment, you’ve got a great entertainer in Elias who’s ready to entertain the fans once more. Walk with him.
