Reigning NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion EC3, in a recent appearance on ‘the Kurt Angle Show,’ discussed the origins of his EC3 character as the nephew of Dixie Carter in TNA Wrestling. Here are some highlights from his conversation:
Regarding how he became Dixie Carter’s nephew in TNA, EC3 explained that the idea came from John Gaburick, who was coming into TNA as Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan were departing. He began,
“It was crazy that this curly-haired idiot named Michael Hutter, aka Derrick Bateman from Cleveland, Ohio had a billionaire aunt. And then you find out, you know, 90 days after you get fired from your job? It was very interesting how that all worked out. But the idea came from, I believe it was John Gaborik within TNA at the time. As as he was coming in and I think Eric Bischoff and Hulk were kind of on their way out. And in the thing we talk about later with what I write, there are four times within wrestling. There’s the wrong place at the wrong time, the right place at the wrong time, the wrong place at the right time, but the only one that works for you is the right place at the right time.”
EC3 emphasized that timing was crucial in the wrestling business, before elaborating on the origins of his character.
“So I was in the right place at the right time, because John’s coming in. He knew I had charisma and talent and the ability to work look like I had ability. He needed to make new stars. So he came from WWE knowing me, I had the freedom to fail. So that idea kind of came from him. And we’re tossing around names like. What the name of this Carter be? And I’m like, ‘Well, I’ve never met an Ethan I liked.’ It was kind of too, I remember in grade school, Jimmy Powell III. I didn’t understand why he was a third. And it pissed me off so much. ‘Why are you a third? I don’t get it.’ And he was kind of a nerd and he picked his nose. And that’s kind of the creative birth. Collaboration is great creative. But through that and knowing you have a push, like I said, knowing you have a little bit of freedom to try something and fail gives you just the utmost amount of confidence that is kind of negated in the WWE, where it’s walking on eggshells, and you think if you breathe wrong, you’re going to get fired. So with just that inch of extra confidence, I was able to take it and run with it.”
Regarding his first impression of Dixie Carter and TNA, EC3 praised Dixie as one of the kindest and most gentle people he’d ever met. He also defended her against some internet criticism, expressing his belief that she was often misunderstood.
“Dixie was one of the sweetest — and still is — kindest, most gentle people I’ve ever met. Yeah, she’s. It visually would upset me when you’d see things and hear people talk about her who don’t know her. And I never understood why the internet had the knives out for her sometimes. But she was such a good person, which almost could be your downfall in wrestling, right, Kurt? She’s so trusting and so caring and so giving that it’s very easy for you to manipulate or take advantage, especially if this is the business you grew up in.”
However, EC3 did acknowledge her perceived shortcomings as a promoter, sharing an anecdote about a promo with Kurt Angle, highlighting a misunderstanding of priorities in storytelling when it came to Dixie.
“But her — like, I would say from a business perspective she didn’t always know what needed to be the focus as opposed to what could probably suffer in lieu of great storytelling. And there’s probably just one example I would have is, before you got hurt and we didn’t do the title match, we’re going to have a cage match at Lockdown I think, and I think you had to get a knee scope. And there was a promo backstage with Dixie and I where the eventual selling point of this is you versus me, or I versus you. And we were talking about this promo and you know, there’s writers running around and things like that. And we were focused on a f**king potted plant in the background where she’s like, ‘I don’t know if that plant looks right.’ What do you think? I’m like, ‘I don’t care.’ And then, you know, by the end of it like, ‘Oh, the segment’s cut, 45 seconds. And the whole purpose of the promo was for me to kind of brashly talk about curses, scared to fight me, and it wasn’t mentioned once.”
(h/t 411mania)