Elias started gaining serious traction with fans during his WWE run, only for that to reach an abrupt end when Vince McMahon overhauled his gimmick. That involved a twin brother, Ezekiel, in a storyline that saw Elias torment Kevin Owens as part of a goofy comedy angle.
Elias was released by the company last September and his now doing the rounds on the independent scene.
Talking about that with Metro, the musician reflected on the time he spent in WWE. "I was always coming up with different characters, ways to evolve Elias into the next thing," he explained. "There was a character that I really thought could have been incredible myself, it was the Monday Night Messiah."
"And if you realise, Seth Rollins and AOP ended up - for lack of better terms, they just gave it to those guys," Elias added, suggesting his idea was taken and given to the former World Heavyweight Champion's short-lived heel stable.
"I had a real vision of me being the Pied Piper of Monday Night Raw and controlling people, with kind of a cult like leader. The biblical themes and things like that, I always love that Messiah stuff."
"There’s guys that just are getting paid more or getting put more in a spotlight, and they might want to put the resources into those guys," Elias continued. "It’s no discredit to Seth, the guy’s absolutely incredible. But this is how that’s how the system works, you know what I mean? That’s the risk you take with giving these ideas."
"So you get upset, you do your thing. But at the at the end of the day, you’re like, 'Well, okay, that’s how it goes. That’s the business.' I knew what I was getting what I was getting into the business."
Elsewhere in the interview, Elias opened up on portraying Ezekiel, a character change which saw him forced to cut his hair and shave his head. Despite it being a gimmick which killed his momentum, he still had fun in the role.
"From a comfort standpoint, it was definitely interesting," he recalls with a laugh. "But it’s another one of those things where I’m like, 'Okay, boss, I’ll make the best of it.'"
"I still have a character in mind for my older brother Elrod," he admitted, suggesting the concept is one he'll revisit in his post-WWE career. "I think we’ve opened up a whole box of characters and creative outlets we could possibly go in."
The moment has likely passed for Elias to sign with AEW or TNA, though there's a chance he'll be able to make a name for himself on the independent scene before eventually returning to WWE.