EC3 On His WWE Run: “Maybe I Just Failed”
“It really doesn’t matter because it just led me to what was next, and that’s okay.”
May 18, 2021
EC3’s WWE run was lacklustre to put it politely. Arriving in NXT with a huge reputation thanks to his brilliant IMPACT run, everyone assumed that the former Derrick Bateman would become a huge star, due to his mixture of looks, charisma, and in-ring chops.
But it was not meant to be. Many pointed the finger at WWE for dropping the ball so hard on a talent many had deemed ‘undroppable’, but EC3 himself has shouldered part of the blame.
Talking with Wrestling Inc.’s Nick Hausman, EC3 said the following:
“I caught the ire with the guy that makes all the decisions, so he didn’t like something and then maybe he didn’t like something that didn’t directly involve me, and there’s no one else to punish, so I suffer the consequences. Maybe I just sucked. I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter because it just led me to what was next, and that’s okay.”
There’s often talk about Vince McMahon and WWE wanting their performers to pitch their own ideas, even if they don’t catch on. But EC3 admits his conversations with McMahon were often underwhelming:
“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.”
EC3 continued:
“You get frustrated. Frustration, depression, anxiety, angst [and] all those things kind of add up too,” EC3 admitted. “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.”
