Elias had a good amount of experience working in the independent circuit. He performed as Rock n Roll Jesus on the indies and caught the attention of fans. After signing with WWE, the company improved his gimmick.
Elias spoke to Not Sam Wrestling and revealed how he has to thank Dusty Rhodes for his guitar gimmick. The American Dream saw his gimmick while he was at the WWE Performance Center and approved of it.
“It actually kinda started I was having a conversation with the legendary Dusty Rhodes. I was just talking to him about my life and who I am and whatnot. Sure enough, the next time I talked to him I brought a guitar in. I told a little story to him about my life while I was strumming and he was like, ‘Dude, that’s it right there.’”
Elias said that Dusty Rhodes saw everything before and was not surprised by anything. Due to his interest in the gimmick, it became Elias’ current gimmick.
