NWA World Heavyweight Champion EC3 made an appearance on The Kurt Angle Show to discuss a wide range of topics including his wrestling career. Here are the highlights:
On TNA moving to POP TV and winning back the title:
“Because the heel run was going well, but then we had the TV disputes. So we kind of don’t want to say like, oh, you take the title off me, man. I’m not ready. Like, no, like for business. We had to vacate it almost because we had to do that World Title series because we didn’t know if we even had a show. So we had to put 16 weeks of television in a can. So we have the pop TV deal, and it kind of, you know, it does feel like a step back in a sense. And I do remember that day. And I’m wrestling Bobby Lashley and Matt Hardy on the same day and I’m fucking winning. And after the match, it didn’t have nearly the same feeling because it almost felt like that first one was really, really cathartic. The second one is like. This is what it feels like when it’s just business. And I don’t like that feeling.”
On leaving TNA for WWE:
“Little Rick Rude moment, I guess, right? I’m sorry. Lex Luger, we were just talking about. Yeah, yeah. No, but, like, the company was changing guards and then the knives were out for. There are multiple suitors for the company. William Patrick Corrigan and then Dixie. And then there’s the anthem, and then Jeff’s there. And each and every day, it was hard to know who’s your boss. And you really had no dog in the fight. You just wanted clarity and purpose and a goal to strive for. So that was tough. And I think the tough part of trying to lead through that is like, we can’t worry about any of this shit. We got to just worry about what’s in front of us, which is today’s show. So that came about, and I kind of realized the grand championship, cool. Win it. But at the same time, I have full confidence in who I am and my abilities now that I have unfinished business. And I thought that was the WWE. So, you know, talks began and when the anthem took over, it was just, do I want to be hanging around in the upper mid-card? And, like, I constantly need to evolve. As you can tell by my stupid blonde hair. Evolving is very important, and new challenges need to arise. So they probably wanted to get away from I had a pretty good deal. So maybe they want to save money, maybe they want to push somebody else and they’re not anchored by having to have me do something. So it’s very. I want to say it’s mutual, but it was like we both understood that the best thing for a business is if the door is always going to be open while at the same time if I leave, you can build four, five, six people. And if I come back now I have 4 or 5 six people to work with, so then I’d be fresh again. So then, yeah, I went back to WWE and NXT.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit Kurt Angle Show with an h/t to Wrestling Headlines for the transcription.