Elias Reveals That Ezekiel Was ‘A Complete Vince McMahon Idea’

– During a recent Q&A session with SoCalVal at Monopoly Events’ For The Love of Wrestling show, former WWE Superstar Elias (aka Elijah) discussed his change to Ezekiel in 2022. According to Elias, Ezekiel was a Vince McMahon creative idea. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):

Elias on the change to Ezekiel: “Yeah, that was a complete Vince McMahon idea. What had happened was, there was a period of time here where ‘The Boss’ really got into Elias and he said, ‘I want to make you the next guy.’ So he took the guitar away for a little while, and we said alright, we’re coming back, we’re gonna get a new look, new gear. As I did that, he was like, ‘Hey, let’s just go the whole way with it. Let’s clean up the hair, let’s shave the beard. We’ll give a whole new presentation.’ When I did that, it was like, oh, this is a whole different person. So you’re gonna be a different lesson. It’s like, ‘Okay, gotcha boss. What are you thinking.’ ‘Your own younger brother.’ You can imagine how I’m taking this as I’m hearing it.”

On being excited for it because McMahon was excited: “So it was his idea, he was very excited about it. When ‘The Boss’ is excited, you’re gonna be excited, you’re gonna be excited because it seems like some fun things could go down. My whole thing with wrestling and WWE is like, I’m always going to make the best of whatever situation I’m put in and hope the opportunities come and flow from that. So once ‘The Boss’ says okay, we’re gonna be Zeke, you’re gonna be that, you got it, boss. Now as soon as I get out there and show you what I can do with this, I want more opportunities to come. But that’s just kind of the attitude I took. Whatever you throw at me, I’m gonna try and make the best of it.”

Eventually, Ezekiel character was written off WWE TV after an attack by Kevin Owens on WWE Raw in 2022. Elias later returned under his former gimmick later in the year, with the word being that Ezekiel was still in a coma. The former WWE 24/7 Champion was later released by WWE the following year.