"Failed another talent'" - Veteran unhappy with WWE killing Elias' character on RAW
Vince Russo and Dr. Chris Featherstone reviewed the latest RAW episode on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Legion of RAW, where the former WWE writer was critical of Elias' apparent gimmick change.
As seen on RAW, Elias tossed his guitar into a fire, signalling the arrival of a new character. Vince Russo said fans witnessed the end of another good character on this week's RAW.
The veteran personality reminded everyone that WWE has killed multiple gimmicks over the past six months, and Elias is the latest to have joined the list of unfortunate talent.
Russo stated that the constant creative changes had hurt wrestlers, and he cited a few recent examples to support his claims. Many well-known acts have seen drastic character alterations on RAW and SmackDown, and not all of them have been positively received.
Russo added that Elias burning his guitar symbolized WWE's failures in character development, and he solely blamed the company's officials.
Here's what Russo had to say about WWE killing compelling characters:
"We saw another character get executed tonight with Elias. Bro, how many? To me, if I'm in WWE, this is very embarrassing. Chris, you and I can probably reel off ten characters in the last six months that they have absolutely killed. Killed, bro! Elias was the latest one this week.
"Who is going to be next week? We can go on and on. We go from King Corbin to Homeless King Corbin. They went from what Otis was then to what Otis is now. We went from the Bouncies to no Bouncies. We went from Eva Marie's vignettes to something totally different. We can go on and on and on.
"I mean, bro, the fact that Elias," Russo continued, "is throwing his guitar in the fire, bro, that equates, 'you've failed, not Elias failed.' Anybody that knows anything about character work and character development, Elias did not fail. You failed! So, I don't even know why you would even admit that because that's all that vignette is, 'We failed another talent.'"
Vince Russo uses Friends as an example to explain WWE's character development issues
Vince Russo said the characters changed every week in the WWE, which was never the case with other iconic TV shows.
The outspoken writer brought up Friends - the popular sitcom - and noted how the show would have been entirely different had Ross undergone numerous personality changes.
"Chris, can you imagine the show Friends? I'm not a big fan of Friends, but I watch Friends. The reason why I bring that up is we've got six characters. Bro, can you imagine if every other week, those characters changed, and all of a sudden, Ross had a different personality," added Russo.
Elias looks set to embark on a new creative journey in the WWE, but what could the writing team have in store for the talented star?
Let us know your predictions in the comments section, and don't forget to check out the latest Legion of RAW episode above.
If any quotes are used from the latest Legion of RAW, please add a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling and embed the YouTube video.