After months out on the cold, Elias made a bizarre return to WWE Raw with a whole new getup.

Making a shock appearance, Elias crashed Kevin Owens’ conversation about his loss to ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, appearing in the ring freshly shaved and sporting a new name.

Introducing himself as Ezekiel, he said he was Elias’ younger brother, presenting as a whole new personality entirely.

Elias hadn’t been seen for a while, with the persona having been labelled ‘dead’ – this new bloke was clean-shaven and his hair shorter.

It didn’t take long for this old (new?) character to start causing trouble when he called Owens a liar for saying that the only reason he lost to Stone Cold was that he had a bad back.

Read on for how the interaction went down.

What did Kevin Owens and Elias/ Ezekiel say to each other?

Storming on stage and interrupting his moment, the new-old guy said: “The name is Ezekiel”.

“What? What did you just say?” responded a startled KO. “You’re not Elias? You’re Ezekiel? No. I recognise those eyes you’re Elias.”

“I am Elias' younger brother Ezekiel.”

“You know what? I know I go beers in my eyes, but I must have gotten beer in my ear because I could swear you keep saying your – it doesn't matter but, you’re Elias. You’re Elias so stop the BS. Stop lying. I hate liars, OK?”

“Oh, if you hate liars well then you must hate yourself," responded Elias (or Ezekiel, we really don’t know) to a round of “Oooooos” from the crowd.

“I never liked you and now I like you even less,” Kevin could be heard saying. “So Elias, Eric, Enrique, whatever the hell you want to call yourself – the only thing that matters is that you know that I’m telling you the truth right here right now when I say: You have about 10 seconds to get the hell out of my ring or else.”

Owens then began to count down from 10, as a defiant Elias/Ezekiel continued to look unbothered.

By the time Owens got down to 'six', the crowd had joined in the count. Once he had reached one the two were standing eyeball to eyeball with one another.

But when Elias gave off nothing more than a sinister smile, Kevin dropped his mic and hurled himself out of the ring.

Unpack that one!

What happened to Elias?

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Despite being one of the most popular wrestlers on the bill for some time, releasing two EPs and playing live on Bourbon Street, New Orleans, he struggled to maintain popularity during Covid.

When fans were unable to attend, Elias’ stock dropped, and the character was pronounced 'dead' in August of 2021.

Now though it seems as though this new character, Ezekiel, is where the future lies.

A clip of Elias carrying his own tombstone with a voice-over saying: “I’ve had number one records, songs about every city, fans eating out of the palm of my hands.

“Music didn’t fail me – it just wasn’t enough. WWE stood for Walk With Elias… but Elias is dead.”

The relaunch/rebirth/regeneration of the character is going to be fascinating, with WWE clearly interested in what this particular wrestler has to offer.

Catch WWE Raw on Monday nights at 1am on BT Sport 1.

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