Kit Wilson on Reinventing Pretty Deadly After Elton Prince’s Injury

Kit Wilson discusses how he was forced to reinvent after injury to Elton Prince: 'It was very scary'

Wilson turned a hidden layer of Pretty Deadly into one of WWE's most distinct acts for his solo run

By Shakiel Mahjouri

May 7, 2026 at 11:09 am ET • 5 min read

- - -

Kit Wilson didn't realize how much he relied on Pretty Deadly until half of it disappeared.

He and Elton Prince had been together from the start, years before signing with WWE. They moved through every milestone as a unit. When Prince suffered a serious neck injury last year, Wilson suddenly found himself alone for the first time in his career. The shift was jarring professionally and personally.

"I don't think I ever truly realized how much of a security blanket and a safety net we were for each other, until we didn't have each other," Wilson told CBS Sports. "We were rocking and rolling as a team, and then not to have that was very foreign. It was very scary."

Once his "massive" anxiety subsided, Wilson saw a chance to dive without his parachute.

"The silver lining, the beauty in it all, it forced me to look at myself and to think about these things."

Wilson didn't have time to sit with that discomfort. Pretty Deadly's future, uncertain as it may be, depended on whether he could evolve without his partner. Instead of trying to preserve the act exactly as it was, Wilson leaned further into aspects of his character that were hidden beneath the surface. The result was one of WWE's more triumphant reinventions in years.

"I'm pushing hard in this singles run and doing better than ever because I've got no choice," Wilson said. "This is now on me. I have to do this for myself and for Elton. Otherwise, there's no Pretty Deadly to come back."

Prince's injury remains serious enough that a return to the ring still isn't guaranteed, something Wilson is careful not to gloss over.

"We have a long road of recovery, and it's still a bit of a question of whether he will return to the ring," Wilson said. "It's a serious injury. So I hope he does. I want him to come back."

At the same time, Wilson sees this as the start of a new chapter for the team whenever Prince is healthy. Wilson is giving himself a glow-up and remodeling the Pretty Deadly fort at once.

"And if he does, hopefully I've raised the profile enough that it'll be a bigger and better Pretty Deadly," Wilson said. "I think we're going to be just a different animal. I don't even fully know what that is. I think we'll very much stand for a lot of similar things, but it's going to be an evolution for real."

That evolution didn't come from thin air. Wilson's "toxic masculinity" crusade, which has connected strongly with audiences since debuting in January, was always part of the Pretty Deadly DNA. It simply didn't have room to breathe with the team's louder, more theatrical presentation.

Wilson traces some of the confidence in his character work to an early conversation with John Cena at the WWE Performance Center. What was supposed to be a brief interaction turned into a 90-minute brainstorming session.

"He gave us advice, but he also quizzed us," Wilson said. "I felt like he made us work for it. He asked about Pretty Deadly's backstory. He said, 'Who are you guys?' And he stopped talking. So we went in big and told him all about our backstory."

That level of character depth feels increasingly uncommon in modern wrestling. WWE still has strong personalities, but fewer performers build complete worlds around themselves the way older generations did. Wilson stands out because nearly every detail of the presentation feels deliberate, from the entrance music and titantron to the wardrobe and mission statement.

Wilson doesn't necessarily believe the art itself is disappearing, though. He thinks many wrestlers have layered characters, but television time rarely allows those layers to unfold fully.

"Sometimes I'm fighting against toxic masculinity, and I can go deep into the reasons why about this person," Wilson said. "Sometimes I'm just going to show up on TV and say, 'You're toxic. I don't like you.'"

But blaming the circumstances won't get you far. That limitation has pushed him to flesh out the character elsewhere.

"I think it's on me, maybe as best I can, whether it's on social media or in interviews, to go a little bit in more depth and to give you a bit more detail and those broader strokes."

Wilson also understands how quickly a good presentation can change perception in wrestling. A superstar's entrance can shape an audience before the bell rings. Some of WWE's most memorable acts were built around distinct identities more than championship runs. The Brood, Goldust, Too Cool and Steve Blackman all carried a specific feeling when their music hit.

Wilson felt that same potential once the pieces of his solo presentation came together. He described the process as "little bits of gold" sprinkled in over time, but he didn't see the finished version until after the audience did.

"That night, I came out to it for the first time," Wilson said. "Catalyst. Boom. It just kicked off. I think everything just felt right."

For years, Wilson believed he had the talent but lacked the visibility. The entrance finally gave people a reason to stop and pay attention.

"I viewed myself as someone who had all the tools, but I didn't have the eyes or the star," Wilson said. "I think something powerful about an entrance music and video package is that it can get the eyes on you, it can get that ball rolling. I think that's what it did for me. It catapulted me into the world and into the eyes of the wrestling community and the universe."

Wilson is reaping the rewards of his hard work. On Saturday, he wrestles his first WWE pay-per-view match, teaming with The Miz to take on Danhausen and a mystery partner at Backlash. He's weeks removed from sharing a WrestleMania moment with Cena.

Now, with more eyes on him than ever before, the responsibility is straightforward.

"It's said you either run with this or you sink," Wilson said. "And I'm running."

Join the Conversation comments

_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/wwe/news/kit-wilson-wwe-elton-prince-pretty-deadly-the-miz/)._