The National Wrestling Alliance gained some star power earlier this year. Former TNA World Heavyweight Champion EC3 arrived in a new yet familiar territory at NWA 74, defeating Mims in under five minutes. While the past few months have been EC3’s first experience in the NWA, this is not the first time that he has worked for Billy Corgan. The Smashing Pumpkins singer previously held corporate positions in TNA while EC3 reigned with that promotion’s top prize.
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Speaking with ComicBook.com’s Liam Crowley, EC3 praised the NWA’s presentation, but pointed to a lacking area that he has been able to elevate.
“I love what they do. And I love the product Corgan’s presenting and the freedom he gives to talent. I love the locker room and the ambience, and the effort everybody puts in. There’s veterans, there’s new guys. There’s old, there’s young. There’s experienced, there’s green. There’s such an eclectic mix. But one thing I think is foresight focused depth of story maybe wasn’t a thing that happened as much. I’m glad to be able to bring that into NWA,” EC3 said. “The second I had that microphone in my hand, I felt at home. It was a long time since I felt good about wrestling that I did not have a direct hand in putting together the show, so to speak.”
The hands-on show EC3 is alluding to is Control Your Narrative. What began as a special presentation of cinematic matches evolved into a full-blown promotion that had a streaming deal and a touring schedule. CYN is currently on pause, as EC3 prepares to launch a “great rebrand” of his creation.
“The idea never was to be a promotion. The concept of it becoming a promotion and the thing I rail against, three-letter brands, I’ll be upfront and admit, I lost the purpose of what I was creating based on the fact it caught so much attention,” EC3 said. “It caught the eyes of so many people and there’s now high-level names involved that put it on a pedestal it’s not yet ready for, nor is it supposed to be on.”
Some of those high-level names, such as Braun Strowman and Karrion Kross, have since returned to WWE, effectively ending their tenure with CYN.
“Kross’s segment is an ode to what he believed in, who he was, not deterring from who he is, and going where he needs to go,” EC3 said. “He had to take that dip to fully ascend to where he’s going to be and where he belongs, and that’s on the WWE roster.
“The same thing with Braun. The concept worked. He came to destroy a part of himself that he was no longer happy with, somebody manipulated by greed and accolades, tried to find himself from the bottom, rebuild himself. And now he’s very successful where he belongs, in the WWE. So they did. They came, they showed this concept works and now, I hope the best.”
This weekend, EC3 has his sights set on Thom Latimer. The two have shared a locker room before, as they were both members of the TNA roster as well as WWE’s former developmental territory, FCW, in the 2010s.
“He has a charisma about him and it’s not necessarily the charisma to be wild and crazy on the microphone, or antics in the ring and overeager and eccentric. He has a presence about him,” EC3 said. “If you’re going to build a wrestling company, he is a first-round draft pick. Size, strength, ability, dexterity. His one issue that’s held him back from the past where I knew him in FCW, to even Impact Wrestling, was that he battled demons, very personal demons. We all have our fights. We all have our personal demons we go toe-to-toe with every night.ย
“But it seemed as though as he succeeded in NWA, he’s battled those demons and he’s found himself happiness. He’s found himself a new life, new lease on a career, and even a wife. But what I do believe is that there’s still something left in his past he has not yet conquered. And I feel that he has to go back to that darkness, to the depths of his past, to his true hell, to his real suffering. Find it, isolate it, conquer it before he can be what he is supposed to be, and that’s the worlds heavyweight champion.”
NWA Hard Times 3 goes down this Saturday, November 12th.
