This weekend’s NWA 74th Anniversary Show brings over 20 matches to Chase’s Khorassan Ballroom in St. Louis, including a notable debut bout. EC3 makes his first appearance in the National Wrestling Alliance in a singles contest against Mims. While this is the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion’s first match within the NWA’s ropes, this company is familiar territory. That’s because the NWA is currently owned by Billy Corgan, the lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins, who previously served as TNA President during EC3’s run with that company. Corgan’s promotion to the president position actually came while EC3 was in the middle of his first reign with TNA’s top prize.
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Corgan would have a messy exit from TNA, but the respect between himself and EC3 remained. Speaking to ComicBook.com’s Liam Crowley, EC3 revealed Corgan is the reason why he wanted to come to NWA in the first place.
“We have very alike minds. We have very intellectual thoughts. We have very clear visions of how we see the industry and where we see it going and how to bring it back to what we think is the best course of action,” EC3 said. “We’re really creative, but we’re stern leaders and set in our ways. So I dig that. He asked. He inquired. I know what I’m building, and I know what he’s been building. It’s kind of yin and yang that are very very very different, but at the same time, united energies in our purposes are very, very, very common.”
What EC3 has been building is Control Your Narrative, a wrestling promotion birthed out of his series of cinematic matches against Matt Cardona and Adam Scherr (formerly WWE’s Braun Strowman). Since the promotion unofficially debuted with the Free The Narrative events in 2021, CYN inked a streaming deal with Pro Wrestling TV and is scheduled to tour across the United States this fall.
“Taking Control Your Narrative on the road is what started my uniting the brands idea,” EC3 explained. “There’s so many prosperous talent out there, and anytime I interacted them, they always ask me, ‘How do I get to the next level?’”
EC3 envisions CYN as the promotion that can fill that developmental hole within the independent wrestling scene.
“It used to be going through Evolve or PWG, whether you’re getting towards NXT or Impact. There is nowhere where the next generation is. There’s no hotbed of that in this current industry,” EC3 continued. “WWE stops signing independent wrestlers it seems, and AEW is full, and Impact has what it has going on. Where could people go to hone their craft, become who they should be, learn how to do this at a high level, but at the same time still create something that could be in the running for a top company, if it’s done right? If I have the youngest, the hungriest, and the most upside of a roster, then I have the hottest ticket in town.”
As he mentioned, EC3 was part of one of the final batches of independent wrestlers that WWE signed. He debuted in the crowd at NXT Takeover: Philadelphia in January 2018 and went on to spend a year in NXT before getting called up to the main roster. While he does hold a victory over Dean Ambrose (AEW World Champion Jon Moxley), EC3’s WWE run ended without much to write home about, and he would depart the company in April 2020.
While he doesn’t look back at his latest WWE run fondly, EC3 did give praise to the new regime currently steering the ship, specifically applauding Triple H’s leadership skills.
“He’s a natural leader and he’s exactly what the company needs,” EC3 said. “And it’s going to thrive with clear direction and insight in somebody that’s capable of taking the time and hearing somebody out and then parlaying their input into his vision and making it work, as opposed to iron fist, tyrant, crazy rule. He’s a natural leader, good human. They’re very fortunate. I think the whole company feels the same way.”
EC3 makes his NWA debut this Saturday at NWA 74, and takes CYN on tour later this fall.
