Beloved WWE superstar, 36, was ‘close to retiring’ from wrestling after ‘frustrating’ exit

WWE superstar Elias considered walking away from wrestling when he got released from the company.

The musical wrestler had fans gripped by his songs and whole stadiums chanting ‘Walk With Elias’, but he grew ‘frustrated’ when he was desperately trying to ‘make so many things happen’ without much luck.

Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk, Elias – now going by the name Elijah after being let go in September 2023 after a decade under contract – admitted his childhood love have almost been ‘beat’ out of him.

‘The fact that I just kinda was relegated to like short backstage – it was so frustrating that I was like, “You know what? Maybe I’m done with wrestling. Maybe I’m just you know, I’m just over it,”‘ he admitted in a candid chat.

‘It beats that fun thing you have as a kid when you want to wrestle and you want to be in WWE… And someone like me, I didn’t like just to sit by and just collect the paycheck. I wanted to be in the mix.

‘I wanted to show you that I could be right in there with any of those guys. And to not have that happen was really just disheartening, you know what I mean? So I didn’t really know what I do after.’

The man formerly known as Elias told us there was definitely a ‘doubt’ in his mind that he’d stick with wrestling at all, particularly after growing disillusioned over ‘the last maybe six months’ of his time in WWE.

‘I was trying so hard to make so many things happen. I was willing to do anything and I was willing to play any character,’ he explained, having even apparently pitched the Monday Night Messiah character made famous by Seth Rollins.

‘There was a time me and [Rick] Boogs were gonna be two muscle head guys and, dude, I thought we could have had a blast with that,’ he revealed.

He was willing to try anything, including shaving his beard and playing his own twin brother Ezekiel, as long as he could be creative.

Thankfully for the 36-year-old star and his fans, as his 90-day notice started to run out, he started to feel his ‘creative juices flowing’, which led to him facing Speedball Mike Bailey at Sami Callihan’s Wrestling Revolver company.

‘Then I’m like, “Oh yeah, it’s there, that fun of wrestling! It’s there,”‘ he smiled. ‘And I just kind of want to do that now. It’s enjoyable to travel and wrestle, and be me, and meet people.’

For Elijah, that’s his focus now, and he admitted he’d rather travel the world on the independent scene ‘under the radar’ than jump back into working for the likes of TNA Wrestling or All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

‘Look, there’s so many cool companies out there, and there’s been interest all across the board. But just for me personally, I’m just not sure if I even want to jump into a situation like that,’ he said.

‘I’m not going to write anything off, because you never know what opportunity might pop up or sound good or fun or creative. But right now, I’m not really not seeking anything out like that, as far as one of the major companies.’

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