"I want to make you the next guy" - Vince McMahon's message to released WWE star before changing his character

A former WWE Superstar recently revealed that Vince McMahon was high on him and it had resulted in a major character change.

Elias returned to WWE TV as a babyface on the RAW after WrestleMania 38 in 2022. Sporting a brand new, clean-shaven look, he now called himself Ezekiel. He kicked off a feud with Kevin Owens immediately after. Elias was let go by WWE last year.

In a Q&A session with For The Love Of Wrestling, the former Elias opened up about the debut of the Ezekiel character. He revealed that the character was Vince McMahon's creation.

“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." [H/T - Fightful]

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Vince McMahon then revealed the idea of Ezekiel to Elias

Elias further said that Vince pitched the character of Ezekiel to him and was quite excited about the same. Elias seemed rather thrilled that Vince was excited about the character of Ezekiel. Unfortunately, the gimmick didn't last long despite having some potential.

The former Elias is currently performing as Elijah on the independent scene. He was quite over during his WWE run and his release left many fans surprised. His fans are excited to see what's next for him in the coming months.