There was a time in the not-too-distant past when Ezekiel, the performer previously known as Elijah and now known on the Indies as Elijah, was one of the hottest acts in the entire WWE Universe.
A long-haired, clean-shaven grappler who looked like the Ultimate Warrior without the face paint/Destrucity, Ezekiel weirdly got over for being everything Elias wasn't, serving as a meta commentary on the ridiculousness of professional wrestling all the while making in-jokes that all the fans were in on but other wrestlers like Kevin Owens couldn't seem to crack.
Discussing how the gimmick came together and why he switched over from being a guitar-playing drifter to a generic wrestler who winked at the camera every second he was on the screen in an appearance on For The Love of Wrestling, Elijah gave much of the credit to Vince McMahon, as he came up with the gimmick and pushed it.
“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,” Elijah said on For The Love of Wrestling via Fightful.
“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. 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.”
Fortunately for certified Zeke Freaks who feel for the peach-wearing grappler, they might not have seen the last of their hero just yet, as, according to Elijah in an interview with For The Love of Wrestling, his brother is doing alright and may return at some point in the future.
“Everybody wants to know how’s Zeke doing. That’s everybody’s main concern, it seems. For everybody out there, he’s still recovering,” Elijah said via Fightful. “We’re still hoping for a solid recovery one of these days. I know in his heart, he’d love to be back out there in front of all the fans that fell in love with Zeke. But in the meantime, he’s on the road to recovery.”
Could Elijah pull out his old trunks, dust off the arm tassels, and let Zeke speak in some indie-fed moving forward? Only time will tell, but unless WWE hardcore copywrote the gimmick before he left, it's safe to say Elijah should be able to book a few shows under the Zeke moniker moving forward.
Elijah is open to finding a new long-term home in pro wrestling.
Elsewhere in his appearance on For The Love of Wrestling, Elijah talked about his future in professional wreslting and whether or not he'd like to sign with another major promotion after being fired from WWE.
While Elijah is having a blast on the indies, he's also down to work with AEW, New Japan, or even TNA moving forward if the situation makes sense.
“Every one of them has their advantages and just appeal to me, just from a personal standpoint. I think it’d be cool to go to Japan and work for New Japan, just to show something that people might have not expected,” Elijah explained via Fightful. “They might associate me in a certain way, and I would just love to just kind of blow that expectation away. I feel like if you picture Elias or Elijah in New Japan, it’s not an immediate, obvious connection. But then I feel like if I’m put in that environment, ‘Oh, hey, guess that? This can work out too.’ The same with AEW, or TNA, I mean I love the idea. I have plenty of ideas about how to evolve my character and take it to the next step, and I feel like you need a TV audience in order to show that. So we’ll have to see what kind of opportunities come my way and which way we go, but all three of them are very appealing.”
Could Elijah sign with AEW, TNA, or NJPW? Frankly, if he continues to shine on the indies, it feels like only a matter of time before someone scoops him up, but who, however, remains to be seen, as his gimmick is anything but a sure thing capable of slotting effortlessly into any situation.
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