10 WWE Creative Success Stories In 2017
7. Elias In General
Elias might be WWE's most unlikely main roster success story.
'The Drifter' stuck out for all the wrong reasons in NXT, where his in-ring shortcomings were woefully exposed against the brand's workrate-centric backdrop. He showed little sign of improvement throughout his run, and few gave him a chance when he was called up to Raw, but he has since become one of WWE's most effective midcarders.
In an area when wrestling's supposed 'bad guys' often provoke louder cheers than the babyfaces, Elias draws nothing but thunderous bile from the audience. His live busking sessions place the former Mr. Samson among WWE's most detestable personalities, and while there's nothing particularly original about what he's saying, the company have presented him in the most obnoxious way possible.
Elias will never be a main eventer, and his in-ring offerings are still pretty grim. This is irrelevant, though. He's not there to be a headliner, but to provide a solid, steady midcard presence, with putting people over his primary goal. 'The Drifter' is extremely efficient in doing just that, and watching him tearing crowd after crowd apart has become a real guilty pleasure.