diff --git a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/input_highlight_rules.js b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/input_highlight_rules.js
index 17c1e3876f076..a80ab73a80d22 100644
--- a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/input_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/input_highlight_rules.js
@@ -42,11 +42,6 @@ export function InputHighlightRules() {
   // regexps are ordered -> the first match is used
   /*jshint -W015 */
   this.$rules = {
-    'start-sql': [
-      { token: 'whitespace', regex: '\\s+' },
-      { token: 'paren.lparen', regex: '{', next: 'json-sql', push: true },
-      { regex: '', next: 'start' }
-    ],
     'start': mergeTokens([
       { 'token': 'warning', 'regex': '#!.*$' },
       { token: 'comment', regex: /^#.*$/ },
@@ -71,7 +66,6 @@ export function InputHighlightRules() {
       addEOL(['whitespace'], /(\s+)/, 'start', 'url')
     ),
     'url': mergeTokens(
-      addEOL(['url.part'], /(_sql)/, 'start-sql', 'url-sql'),
       addEOL(['url.part'], /([^?\/,\s]+)/, 'start'),
       addEOL(['url.comma'], /(,)/, 'start'),
       addEOL(['url.slash'], /(\/)/, 'start'),
@@ -82,16 +76,6 @@ export function InputHighlightRules() {
       addEOL(['url.param'], /([^&=]+)/, 'start'),
       addEOL(['url.amp'], /(&)/, 'start')
     ),
-    'url-sql': mergeTokens(
-      addEOL(['url.comma'], /(,)/, 'start-sql'),
-      addEOL(['url.slash'], /(\/)/, 'start-sql'),
-      addEOL(['url.questionmark'], /(\?)/, 'start-sql', 'urlParams-sql')
-    ),
-    'urlParams-sql': mergeTokens(
-      addEOL(['url.param', 'url.equal', 'url.value'], /([^&=]+)(=)([^&]*)/, 'start-sql'),
-      addEOL(['url.param'], /([^&=]+)/, 'start-sql'),
-      addEOL(['url.amp'], /(&)/, 'start-sql')
-    ),
   };
 
   addToRules(this);
diff --git a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/x_json_highlight_rules.js b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/x_json_highlight_rules.js
index 8e39ea0acba10..f5051af1e295b 100644
--- a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/x_json_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/x_json_highlight_rules.js
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ const { ScriptHighlightRules } = require('./script_highlight_rules');
 const jsonRules = function (root) {
   root = root ? root : 'json';
   const rules = {};
-  const xJsonRules = [
+  rules[root] = [
     {
       token: ['variable', 'whitespace', 'ace.punctuation.colon', 'whitespace', 'punctuation.start_triple_quote'],
       regex: '("(?:[^"]*_)?script"|"inline"|"source")(\\s*?)(:)(\\s*?)(""")',
@@ -34,6 +34,13 @@ const jsonRules = function (root) {
       merge: false,
       push: true
     },
+    {
+      token: 'punctuation.start_triple_quote',
+      regex: '"""sql',
+      next: 'sql-start',
+      merge: false,
+      push: true
+    },
     {
       token: 'variable', // single line
       regex: '["](?:(?:\\\\.)|(?:[^"\\\\]))*?["]\\s*(?=:)'
@@ -110,15 +117,6 @@ const jsonRules = function (root) {
     }
   ];
 
-  rules[root] = xJsonRules;
-  rules[root + '-sql'] = [{
-    token: ['variable', 'whitespace', 'ace.punctuation.colon', 'whitespace', 'punctuation.start_triple_quote'],
-    regex: '("query")(\\s*?)(:)(\\s*?)(""")',
-    next: 'sql-start',
-    merge: false,
-    push: true
-  }].concat(xJsonRules);
-
   rules.string_literal = [
     {
       token: 'punctuation.end_triple_quote',
diff --git a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/utils.js b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/utils.js
index 5b6bd1646c300..a083f37c4c71c 100644
--- a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/utils.js
+++ b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/utils.js
@@ -58,13 +58,20 @@ utils.reformatData = function (data, indent) {
   };
 };
 
-utils.collapseLiteralStrings = function (data) {
-  const splitData = data.split(`"""`);
-  for (let idx = 1; idx < splitData.length - 1; idx += 2) {
-    splitData[idx] = JSON.stringify(splitData[idx]);
+// For now just a dumb removal of any """sql strings. Eventually we want some why to reverse
+// this operation can probably bundle A -> B with the B -> A functionality.
+const collapseXLangMarkers = text => text.replace(`"""sql`, `"""`);
+
+utils.collapseLiteralStrings = _.pipe(
+  collapseXLangMarkers,
+  function (data) {
+    const splitData = data.split(`"""`);
+    for (let idx = 1; idx < splitData.length - 1; idx += 2) {
+      splitData[idx] = JSON.stringify(splitData[idx]);
+    }
+    return splitData.join('');
   }
-  return splitData.join('');
-};
+);
 
 /*
   The following regex describes global match on:
diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/console_extensions/spec/overrides/sql.query.json b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/console_extensions/spec/overrides/sql.query.json
index 843fba30bb489..6373c4b756bec 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/console_extensions/spec/overrides/sql.query.json
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/console_extensions/spec/overrides/sql.query.json
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
       "query": {
         "__template": {
           "__raw": true,
-          "value": "\"\"\"\nSELECT * FROM \"TABLE\"\n\"\"\""
+          "value": "\"\"\"sql\nSELECT * FROM \"TABLE\"\n\"\"\""
         }
       }
     },
@@ -19,6 +19,6 @@
         "smile"
       ]
     },
-    "template": "_sql?format=json\n{\n  \"query\": \"\"\"\n  SELECT * FROM \"${1:TABLE}\"\n  \"\"\"\n}\n"
+    "template": "_sql?format=json\n{\n  \"query\": \"\"\"sql\n  SELECT * FROM \"${1:TABLE}\"\n  \"\"\"\n}\n"
   }
 }