In the midst of a pre-match musical interlude, Elias expressed his regret for striking a “child” like Lio Rush with his guitar last week and promised to overcome his opponent Bobby Lashley at WWE TLC.
When Heath Slater emerged to reluctantly serve in his first match as a referee for the strumming Superstar’s match against Rush, it was clear that The One-Man Band would be something of a wild card.
When Elias went for the pinfall on The Man of the Hour, Lashley attacked his adversary and prevented Slater from making the three-count. Then, after Lashley intimidated Slater so that he would not call for the disqualification, Rush grabbed Elias’ guitar and opened the door for Lashley to play a tune on his adversary’s back before forcing Slater to count to three and declare Rush the winner.