ROH star EC3 was the latest guest on the Wrestling Inc. Daily to discuss a variety of topics, including how former AEW world champion Jon Moxley served as an inspiration to him following his release from WWE over a year ago. He also touches on how trapped he felt while with WWE, and how he can at times be his own worst enemy. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
Says that Jon Moxley inspired him with post WWE run:
“He had a very sustained run at top of the WWE for eight years so carte blanche and then the ability to do something different — he was real to himself in WWE. I mean, granted but to truly let himself go and then to shoot something cinematic, in a sense, to announce his arrival back to becoming Mox and everything he’s done, it was a definitely inspiring. I don’t think I had that name value so much because I didn’t have that WWE run on top like he did, so I just had to take inspiration from it and make it my own and then exemplify it times 1,000 because when he left, he left to another major company and you’re allowed to internationally travel.
On his “control your narrative” persona:
“When I left, there was no wrestling except for — nobody knew what was going on so there’s a way to keep relevance in a sense, and then it just keeps growing, and growing and growing. More people within the industry kind of kept asking me about it and are actually intrigued about controlling their narrative, doing something similar and then fans, in a sense, reaching out in a different way, it all kind of just snowballed into this giant idea. Why don’t we do something big and bold, and we do it ourselves as independent as possible? Two dudes [and] a bunch of hungry people that believe in a cause. So we’ll see what happens.”
Says he fell under the trap of “nothing matters” while in WWE:
“Indifference, really. Maybe I wasn’t aggressive enough in pitching it too, so that could lay on me, but at the same time, you try, and try, and try, and try and try and nothing happens. I made myself a promise, and I broke that promise because there is a negative stigmata a lot of times in the locker room where nothing matters. Coming up there, I was like, no matter what happens, I’m going to be positive [and] optimistic. I’m going to grind. I’m going to be my absolute best. I’m going to put it forward, and I didn’t because I fell under the trap of nothing matters and maybe I’m right. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe nothing does matter there or maybe I was my own worst enemy.”
On being his own worst enemy:
“You get frustrated. Frustration, depression, anxiety, angst [and] all those things kind of add up too. When I was called up, the call-up came when I was out for concussion, so I rushed back, and then maybe I didn’t heal enough from it mentally. Maybe I didn’t have enough time. Maybe I tried to rush back into action too soon, or maybe I just failed. It’s okay to fail because through failure, you learn.”