WWE Raw: Elias Breaks Out After Lackluster NXT Tenure

After being nearly universally hated in NXT, Elias has become one of WWE’s breakout stars on Raw.

Back in the spring, Elias debuted on WWE Raw. At first, finding him was kind of like a game of “Where’s Waldo?” as he literally drifted onto the scene. But once he was acknowledged as being present on the show, Elias began a steady ascent in the ranks.

To truly understand how far he has come, we have to look to his tenure in NXT. While honing his character, the man then known as Elias Samson developed new persona. He was “The Drifter,” a wandering musician. Or maybe he was just a grifter. Possibly a hobo.

The point is, no one knew exactly what “The Drifter” was supposed to be. “Musician” was the logical choice, since Elias carried a guitar around with him. But he never played it! Rule number one of characterization in the artistic world – anything that your character uses needs to have a purpose. You can call it “Chekhov’s Corollary.”

Because no one knew what Elias was in NXT, the fans turned on him pretty badly. He was always supposed to be a heel, but the heat he got was less “we don’t like your character,” and more “we don’t like you as a person.” This isn’t speculation – I attended several NXT events between 2015 and 2017 with Elias on the card. My first hand experience was that he just didn’t connect with the audience.

But then something amazing happened – Elias learned how to play the guitar. Whether the man behind the character had any experience strumming the six strings or not, somewhere along the way he started to play the instrument. Rather than be a useless prop, it began to have meaning. In NXT, he only played a bit, but he lost a “Loser Leaves NXT” match to Kassius Ohno just before WrestleMania this year. Rumors of a main roster call-up, however misguided that seemed, popped up.

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After a single televised appearance as the masked “El Vagabundo,” Elias drifted onto the Raw roster. He quietly dropped “The Drifter” moniker as well as his last name, and began to use his musical skills to his advantage. And surprise, surprise, Elias started getting the right kinds of reactions, and for the right reasons.

This also helped him to showcase his considerable in-ring talent. He may not be on anyone’s Top Ten lists for best wrestler, or a technical wizard, or anything like that. But Elias is a solid in-ring performer who stays within his character. Over the six months or so since his Raw debut, he’s become a big part of the midcard scene.

In fact, he’s become so commonplace on Raw that any absence s glaring. Take the December 11 episode – one week after getting destroyed by Braun Strowman (and two weeks after his best match to date against Roman Reigns), Elias was off television. Fans were not happy – well, I wasn’t happy. Even Vince Russo got in on the action on social media.

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If you would have told me a year ago that The Drifter would be one of the best parts of Raw every week, I probably would have smacked you. But it’s just another example of how crazy 2017 has been for the wrestling world. There’s still a week left, what else could happen?