Nita Strauss Praises Elias' Improved Guitar Skills
RAW superstar Elias is currently in the midst of a babyface push and is considered to be one of the superstars with the most potential in WWE. He has won people over with his skills on the guitar, and he even earned some praise from famed guitarist Nita Strauss. On last week's episode of our WINCLY podcast, Strauss agreed with Wrestling Inc. managing editor Nick Hausman that Elias has improved greatly on the guitar.
"He has gotten a lot better, and that's interesting that you notice that as a non-musician, because he has gotten a lot better at guitar and I'm actually favorably impressed," Strauss said. "He has actually gotten better."
Elias started off as a sharp-tongued heel who would draw the ire of the WWE Universe. He would still generate cheers because of his guitar-playing skills and now that he's a babyface they can cheer for him all the time.
Strauss revealed that she initially wasn't a fan of Elias, not because of his status as a heel, but because she wasn't impressed by his guitar-playing. She said she eventually warmed up to him because of his growth as a character.
"I'll be the first to admit, I did not get the Elias gimmick at first. When we first started watching Elias, my boyfriend Josh, he's a lifelong wrestling fan and he was like, 'This guy is gonna be a huge star, he's gonna be a megastar.' And I was like, 'What?! This guy sucks at guitar,'" Strauss said. "He's like, 'It's not about being good at guitar, it's about being a great character and he has a great character,' and I just did not get it. But lo and behold, he was right, as usual."
Nita's album Controlled Chaos is available for pre-order at NitaStrauss.com. You can subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes to get the latest episode of the WINCLY every Thursday afternoon! You can listen to the latest episode below, featuring the full interview with Strauss: