Elias Beats King Corbin at WWE WrestleMania 36

In his first singles match at WrestleMania, Elias defeated King Corbin on Night 1 of WrestleMania 36 on Saturday.

Elias got an early edge after slamming his guitar over Corbin's back before the bell rang.

Once the King regained his faculties, the bout proved to be a back-and-forth affair, so much so that Elias bent the rules in order to prevail. He rolled Corbin up and grabbed the tights for added leverage as the referee counted to three.

Elias has gotten under Corbin's skin in recent weeks by poking fun at him backstage and playing insulting songs. Their rivalry reached another level a couple of weeks ago, however, when Rob Gronkowski got involved.

After the former New England Patriots tight end was announced as the host of WrestleMania 36, Corbin interrupted him and Mojo Rawley on SmackDown. While The Lone Wolf was running Gronk down on the mic, Elias showed up and played another anti-Corbin song.

That led to Gronk saying he advocated for a match between Corbin and Elias at The Show of Shows, and he followed that up by pushing The Lone Wolf and forcing him to trip over Rawley, who was down on his hands and knees.

On the second-to-last episode of SmackDown before WrestleMania, Corbin got some retribution by pushing Elias off an elevated platform and onto the concrete floor.

Corbin scored the biggest win of his career at last year's WrestleMania when he pinned Kurt Angle in what was the final match of the Olympic gold medalist's career.

After that, Corbin feuded with many of the top stars in WWE, including Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. He also won the King of the Ring tournament, which made it clear that the company was planning to utilize him as a top heel moving forward.

Elias' year wasn't quite as successful, but much of that had to do with time missed because of injury. He became a babyface upon his most recent return, and Corbin has been the prime target when it comes to his agitating songs.

Both Corbin and Elias are NXT products who have improved markedly since making the move to the main roster, and they both had a big opportunity to take another step forward at WrestleMania.

Although this year's event didn't feel as big as past ones because of the coronavirus pandemic forcing WWE to hold it with no fans in attendance, the stage was still significant with so many people watching at home.

By virtue of his win over Corbin, Elias may now be in line for the major face push that many have been anticipating for the past couple of years.

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