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Professional wrestling has had more than its fair share of musical acts over the last hundred years.
Most of the singing wrestler acts have just been gimmicks – think Honky Tonk Man or “Double J” Jeff Jarrett – executed by people with little-to-no actual musical ability.
Some professional wrestlers with musical ability have taken a shot at a recording career. John Cena, R-Truth, Lita, and even hardcore legend Terry Funk have released albums over the years.
The most notable performers to make the jump from the squared circle to the recording industry with a real level of success are Chris Jericho and his band Fozzy, ring announcer Lillian Garcia and female wrestler Mickie James.
Current WWE star Elias has always used music as a part of his persona. During his debut year in 2017, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native performed for crowds week after week, on his stool in the middle of the ring, usually to a chorus of boos.
He’d sing a song, incite the crowd by making fun of their town, and explain that WWE actually stood for “Walk With Elias.”
Eventually, Elias got over with the crowds, but the performer rarely got to sing a song before being interrupted by another WWE star.
In 2018, the WWE Music Group released “Walk With Elias” a four-song album with the WWE star singing songs – in character – like “Ballad Of Every Town I’ve Been To.”
The album reached number 13 on the Top 100 US albums on iTunes on the first day of release.
All songs are produced by John Paul Alicastro and Michael Conrad Lauri, better known as CFO$.
The Alicastro and Lauri duo is behind some of the biggest wrestler theme songs of the last decade, including some of my personal favorite theme entrances for Sasha Banks, AJ Styles, and Bobby Roode.
Much like every relationship with WWE, the marriage soon went south.
In February 2020, it was reported that CFO$ had been in a dispute with their publisher over the previous several months, due to money CFO$ states was owed to them per their publishing deal.
CFO$ attempted to have WWE buy them out of their publishing deal and have them work in-house but the publisher rejected the proposal.
As a result, WWE has used no new CFO$ music since. In August 2020, CFO$ was released from their recording contract and disbanded shortly afterward.
Things would be different for Elias’s second album, “Universal Truth,” released earlier this week on iTunes.
Thank you to everyone who made this possible. We made history last night in under 24 hours hitting the #1 spot in our category on @applemusic & @itunes.
This speaks to the power of Elias,and the power of the Universal Truth that everybody knows deep in their hearts. pic.twitter.com/1FSZj4GKBt
— ELIJAH (@_Iam_Elijah_) October 27, 2020
The CFO$ guys are gone and Elias isn’t singing any of the songs in character. At least it doesn’t seem that way.
The second album immediately did better than its predecessor but are the songs any good?
I’m far from a music critic so I enlisted the help of our resident expert, Ryan O’Connell.
“Well, I wouldn’t say ‘Universal Truth’ is great by any means, and calling it good feels like a stretch,” explains Ryan. “‘Amen (I’m Going In)’ gave me some hope that maybe this would be some good old’ shit-kicking rock but, eh, not so much.”
O’Connell admits that Elias has a solid voice but “the lyrics and songs are generic as all hell.”
“I almost wonder if he’d be better served if he didn’t have the financial backing of the WWE and instead came out with a more low key, acoustic guitar-driven product, something that showcased his voice without the spit and polish of the back-up singers and stereotypical production.”
Personally, I’ve listened to the album several times – there are only four songs – and don’t mind “Universal Truth” at all. I even enjoyed Elias performing “Amen, I’m Going In” live on Raw.
It’s hard to tell if “Universal Truth” is still the character Elias performing or the guy behind the gimmick really taking a shot at a musical career. Especially when his live performance was, once again, ruined by another WWE star and used to jumpstart a new feud.
Will Elias morph into a bonafide rock star, like Chris Jericho? It’s hard to say.
The man behind the character does have musical talent but his strengths right now are cutting promos on the microphone and performing in a wrestling ring.
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