Elias On How John Cena Helped Him With "WWE Stands For Walk With Elias" Phrase
WWE Superstar Elias joined E & C's Pod of Awesomeness this week to talk with Edge and Christian about a number of pro wrestling topics, including how he came up with the "Walk with Elias" catchphrase and how he connected it to "WWE."
"The 'walk with Elias" thing– it all started with The Drifter in NXT," Elias said. "So, it's all kind of evolved, right? The Drifter was this guy where I'd put a guitar on my shoulder and walk from town to town, find my way however I can, whether it's hitchhiking, on a bus, walking, whatever I've gotta do. So it just became a question, 'Who wants to walk with The Drifter? Who wants to go with me on this journey?'"
With groundwork already there, once Elias hit the main roster, Vince McMahon made the name switch to simply Elias. While backstage with John Cena, Elias said he kept hearing Cena talk about the WWE and it just clicked with his catchphrase.
"When I got to the main roster, Vince [McMahon] said 'Let's drop The Drifter stuff. You're gonna be Elias and that's it,'" Elias recalled. "So, 'walk with Elias' was the next question, right? And it just so happened to perfectly work out, 'WWE' and 'walk with Elias' are right in line there. I remember I said it backstage to John Cena. He was going off about the WWE Universe and the WWE this and that, and I said 'Hey John, do you know WWE stands for? It stands for walk with Elias.' He said, 'My head just exploded in ten different ways, man. That is great!' He said, 'You got to make a thing out of that.'"
It didn't take long for Elias to give it a try out in front of a live audience and it worked immediately with the crowd.
"So, sure enough, the next week or whatever I said it against John [Cena], I believe in a promo on Christmas Day, no less," Elias said. "It seemed like right away the fans really reacted to it and the next week I started asking them, 'What does WWE stand for?' and they'll fire back."
You check out Elias' full interview by clicking here. You can also find it on iTunes here.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit E & C's Pod of Awesomeness with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.