Elias says he used to be offended by veterans like The Undertaker taking spots from younger WWE stars

Lilian Garcia welcomed WWE Superstar Elias to her “Chasing Glory” podcast this week. In addition to the traditional podcast apps, the show also airs on the WWE Network.

Elias talked about his WWE tryouts, being inspired by Tough Enough, developing his character, why he learned to speak Italian, what it was like to work with The Undertaker, and much more.

Here are some highlights from the interview:

Elias on working with The Undertaker:  “Getting to work with him, he was one of, if not my favorite wrestler growing up. I remember having a match with him at Madison Square Garden. It was the main event. It was actually a big tag team match. I opened it up with one of my songs. I was wearing a hat, which I had to get approval from the dead man because it was like a cowboy hat. I played a song on guitar. I remember a lot of the ideas that I wanted to do. I can remember seeing interviews my whole life when you hear his music, you get chills. I remember thinking I’m not in the main event at Madison Square Garden. That’s not going to get me. Sure enough, when his music went off and Madison Square Garden went crazy and you hear that gong, I got goosebumps then. Then when he came out, it was like the next level. Then when I actually saw him, I can actually feel that moment now.”

Elias talked about the veterans in WWE: “This is going to sound selfish, but when these guys are around, guys like Undertaker, Kane, Shawn Michaels, when they would come back, I would get personally offended by that. The reason would be that I should either be in there with those guys and learning from them and they should be passing on the knowledge or they just should not be there because it’s the new guy’s time. That’s how I felt. I had a little bit of anger towards that generation. I was like, I’m getting the loudest reactions out there. I’m the new guy and I’m the young guy. Here come these guys and they take spots at WrestleMania. They take spots at big PPV’s. Elias is shoved to the side for whatever reason. I had like an anger about that. I thought geez, can they not just help out or step aside, whatever it may be. Then I saw the interview with The Undertaker with that 4 or 5 part series and you come to find out how he’s aware of that as well. He knows the young guys want his spot. He also knows that he has to let this go sometime and he has been through the ringer. His body has been through it. But, he just loves the business so much and you can relate to that. I was like, oh, let me put myself in this situation and get paid incredibly well. One of the best of all time. The fans go absolutely insane for the guy. It softens me to go, oh, I get it and I don’t have that anger that I did have before. Who knows if the situation is ever reversed.”

Elias talked about how his album came to be: “I was legitimately injured on SmackDown, shortly after WrestleMania. I was bench pressing in the gym. I tore my pectoral muscle coming down. It totally went. I remember Buddy Murphy was spotting me. Thankfully, he was there to help me out. I remember when I was done, he said, ‘Dude, I heard that.’ It sounds like a T-Shirt tearing. I called HHH maybe 5 minutes later because I know he tore his. I said I think I tore my pec. He said, ‘Alright, we will get you an MRI. We will get you taken care of with the best people.’ I got an MRI an hour later.  They took care of me whenever I’ve gotten hurt or anything really. But then I was down and I decided I had to use this time doing something. I’m going to write some music, which I do anyways even when I’m not making an album so to speak. I like to write music and play and come up with stuff. I told Kevin Dunn, listen, when I come back I would love to record an album. He said, ‘Yes, I’m on board. Let’s do it.’  He got me in contact with everyone. I had written probably 10 songs. They narrowed it down to four songs. They said, ‘This is what we are going to do. Let’s record it. Let’s get you in the studio.’”

If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit “Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia” podcast with a h/t to PWrestling.com for the transcription.