ROH star EC3 recently appeared on the 411 Wrestling Interviews podcast to discuss a number of different topics, including how he reinvented himself after his release from WWE, and how ironic he finds it that WWE released talents one year to the day from when he was cut. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
How he feels about WWE releasing superstars one year to the day that he was released:
“Strange and ironic because one thing happened. Sense and serendipity are another thing. There is a saying that everything happens for a reason or that everything’s connected, or any other crazy, bull**** quotes you can see on Instagram. The timing was very interesting. The timing was very interesting for the Free the Narrative project especially because I met with Matthew Cardona on April 15, 2021 to have a sitdown on this longstanding blood feud that would be settled in Free the Narrative. On that same day, the releases came out after we had our discussion, after our discussion was released to the world. It ties together, and that group of people, a lot of people have been coming, knocking on my door, seeking to control their narrative. And I guess I was a martyr, or a leader, or at least formulated an idea. That idea has grown beyond me as a person. That idea has grown that so many more talents know their worth, their ability to tell their story, know their talent, and know their value. It happened for a reason. I don’t know what that reason is. I’m not one to say how anyone should do their business, so so be it, so be it, World Wrestling Entertainment, but a lot of good people can truly find themselves outside that umbrella.”
Talks his character reinvention since his departure from WWE:
“Reinvention is utterly one of the most important things that somebody can do, and a testament to that would be The Undertaker for one. Not to compare myself and him at all, but I appreciate that because I definitely took it upon myself to control your narrative. Control Your Narrative is to tell your story. And all throughout wrestling, I see these individuals who I know their true story, but what’s portrayed on television via booking committees and creative teams and one man’s opinion, I never get to see their true selves and their true stories told. So Control Your Narrative was a self-created experiment on myself to derive from my reality, my purpose, to take back control, to have the freedom to be myself and run with it. It’s interesting that — it’s artistically very satisfying as far as reaching a broad audience. When it’s under a three-letter corporate brand, it’s hard to reach the vast wrestling audience because it’s only on your social [media accounts]. So fortunately, Ring of Honor has allowed me to control my narrative. My brief run at Impact, I was able to control most of my narrative, and I was able to kind of establish this character. But at the same time, people who are tied to past, harken to the past. I still don’t know what I’m doing and what I’m fighting for, and that’s a big thing with Free the Narrative, Control Your Narrative. It’s not only to tell my story but to tell the story of so many people I’ve met who deserve that Opportunity. And hopefully, through this grassroots campaign, and this completely independent production and style, we can tell stories to wrestling fans about wrestlers they deserve to know.”