Prior to his return to IMPACT at last night’s Slammiversary, EC3 spoke with PW Insider to talk all things pro-wrestling. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
How he trusts very few people in the industry due to all the hearsay:
There’s very few people I trust in this industry to communicate openly my message to people on the internet basically, because I feel there’s a lot of hearsay. There’s a lot of speculation that’s reported as facts,” EC3 said. “I feel there’s a lot of misinformation, and I feel you, Michael, one of the true people with integrity who sort and cite your material and verify. You don’t do things for clicks. Then if you’re wrong, you hold yourself accountable to it, and you admit it. So I respect what you do, and that’s why you’re one of the few interviews I’ve decided to do.
Talks the multiple concussions he suffered in WWE:
I was concussed. I actually was concussed at the NXT Takeover in Brooklyn. We’ve had a few in the past. We all get them, but that was the first time I didn’t know where I was. That was a scary feeling. All of sudden I was in a trainer’s room talking to a doctor, and I had no idea how I got there. I remember the first thing they said was, “Do you know what city you’re in?” I said, “I don’t.” Then I was like, “Oh sh**.” So from there, I started the road to recovery, and I did come back. Then in another match on NXT TV, I believe, I was donked to the back of the head and fresh off that one concussion, I had another. Somebody caught me a few months later, and I was out again with a concussion. This time, it was very difficult to come back from, because we’ve talked about injuries in the past, and knees, and my back, and my bicep tear, or pecs tear, body’s falling apart. This injury was the most difficult, because in lieu of the physical aspect of it, it was a lot mentally, and having to deal with the brain chemistry and the mental aspect of this concussion and maybe life in general was really difficult and extremely hard to come back from.
His frustrations in WWE:
I will say at this point, realizing who I kind of was as a person, how unhappy I was all the time, how much it wears on me, my ability to be satisfied creating something and working hard towards something, and then when I can’t do that, who it makes me become is not the best version of me. I was prepared. Must be realistic from a business perspective. They don’t use me, and I just had a couple months where I couldn’t even live up to the meager use of me. I understand that from a business point. What do I have to offer besides… You don’t know, because they haven’t tried, but it makes me expendable, and I’m okay with that.
On his main roster call-up:
I was at the point where I thought I was brought up with an intention and a purpose. So I made the mistake of trusting the process instead of being the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. I remember I think, ‘Hey, I think we’re turning you heel.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, thank God I’m such a better heel and I don’t do flashy things, and I can really talk… Man, yeah, turn me heel and get me on the microphone right away. Let’s go.’ But that didn’t ever happen.