Elias is dead… but it doesn’t look like there were any concrete plans for those ominous vignettes to introduce a new character.
According to @WrestleVotes, WWE didn’t have any plans for the graveyard promos for him other than to signify the end of his music-based character. Many fans believed that Elias was setting up another gimmick, but it appears that it was just a way to kill off his music character.
It was also noted that there was at least one gimmick in the works for the wrestler for his return to television, but it was shut down by company officials. According to the report, Elias (it was not stated if he would still use that name) was initially given a “Randy Savage” style gimmick with “colorful trunks and a beard,” but Vince McMahon and other officials didn’t like it and ultimately scrapped it.
Elias was last seen on WWE TV during a vignette that aired on the August 23 episode of RAW, where he burned his guitar and claimed that “Elias was dead.” His last match on WWE TV came on the July 19 episode of RAW, a “Symphony of Destruction” match loss to Jaxson Ryker, and he went undrafted in this year’s WWE Draft. Elias signed with WWE in 2014 and has used a variation of that gimmick for his whole run; he’s been billed as Elias Samson, The Drifter and using his first name as a mononym.
Read More: Elias Burns His Guitar, Says ‘Elias Is Dead’ In Mysterious Vignette On WWE RAW
