Vince McMahon reportedly only wants to elevate Lars Sullivan right now

After being absent from WWE programming for over a year, Lars Sullivan made his return on the 2020 Draft special episode of SmackDown. He went on to attack The Miz, Jeff Hardy, and Matt Riddle. On the second night of the WWE Draft on RAW, Lars Sullivan was drafted to Friday Night SmackDown.

With the recent and past controversies surrounding Lars Sullivan, the expectations were that WWE won't be pushing him, but his booking in the past few weeks on the Blue brand suggests otherwise. On the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that Lars Sullivan is the only guy that Vince McMahon and higher-ups want to elevate right now.

“I mean there’s nobody, I mean nobody, but when you’re talking about one guy that they’re elevating: Lars Sullivan. That’s the guy.”

Lars Sullivan Destroy Shorty G #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/hfjvgXpjJg

— Cenation - WWE Guy (@CenationMarian) October 24, 2020

Lars Sullivan to possibly undergo a name change soon?

It can be observed in Lars Sullivan's recent appearance on SmackDown that the commentators are referring to him as The Freak more often than his actual ring name. It was done to such an extent that fans almost started complaining about it because of the overkill of calling him The Freak.

It was then reported that the reason why WWE is doing that could be because of a possible name change in the near future for Lars Sullivan. Dave Meltzer noted the following:

While they did use the name Sullivan, it's very clear they are trying to put over the name The Freak, which Cole said over and over and over, while only saying Sullivan a few times. It's what they do when the plan is to transition the name.

What would be your reaction be if at some point #LarsSullivan #TheFeak became #UniversalChampion. Comment below or show a gif with your reaction. Retweets appreciated #WWE #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/zOnxPmeDaO

— The Closed Fist (@TheClosedFist) October 24, 2020

This is not the first time when WWE has decided to push Lars Sullivan. He was supposed to debut on an episode of RAW in January 2019 but reportedly walked out after having an anxiety attack. As per rumors, the original plans were for him to have a feud with John Cena, but that also did not materialize.

His main roster debut was still pretty impactful as he went on to attack several WWE legends like Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, and others. Before getting injured last year, Lars Sullivan was feuding against The Lucha House Party.