For EC3 and the National Wrestling Alliance, standing out in a crowded wrestling market is a top priority for the security and success of their future. With more choices than ever, wrestling fans are inundated with not only WWE and AEW programming, but other promotions like New Japan Pro Wrestling, Impact, Lucia Libra AAA Worldwide, AIW, and Game Changer Wrestling, among several others, are all vying for viewers and support.
The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion said the simplicity of good storytelling is paramount to the NWA, and honoring the past while also evolving into the future is what helps define both his style and the style of the organization he represents.
“Great stories can be told without the unnecessary twists and turns that we’ve conditioned wrestling fans to expect,” EC3 said. “Sometimes the good guys can win. Sometimes a bad guy can dominate. I think simplicity in storytelling, simplicity in fundamentals and work ethic within the ring, are things I’d like to see brought back, and I think we can hone in on.”
EC3 is set to defend his title on Saturday, Jan. 13 as part of NWA’s signature live event, “Paranoia,” at Revolution Live in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The Cleveland native will face Matt Cardona in “The Ultimate Match Of Death.”
“You just gotta toughen up,” EC3 said of preparing for the bout. “Anybody can go have a death match. He’s ‘The King of the Death Match.’ Whoopity doo. I can go to Bumfights.com and see a death match. Anybody can do a death match. So Matt Cardona — what I do respect about him as a performer, as a talent, as an entertainer and as an athlete, is he’s a guy who can reinvent himself. He’s a guy who can carry unique and intricate stories and do these things that people wouldn’t have the bravery to do. So with ‘The Ultimate Match Of Death,’ it’s not a death match. Anybody can have a death match. We can only have ‘The Ultimate Match of Death.’”
And how is EC3 getting ready for the latest challenger to his NWA crown? “Are my trainees stabbing me with forks? Maybe,” EC3 said. “I don’t want to give too much away. Are they throwing tacks at me, and am I rolling around on them at night in bed? I don’t want to give away any strategies. Am I getting whipped and chained and beaten and handcuffed and kendo-sticked in the head? I don’t want to give away any of my training secrets. But to prepare for ‘The Ultimate Match of Death,’ you have to be prepared for one thing. To die. I am. Is Matt?”
Recently, EC3 chatted about his career, the NWA and its new territory system, working for the WWE, his history with Cardona and much more in this Web Is Jericho exclusive.
You began your career in Cleveland, which is just up the road from where I’m at in Youngstown Ohio. What are some of your most vivid memories from your time wrestling there? “Coming up on the indie scene, it was a lot different back then. If we had one to two shows a month we were very lucky. I always knew my path would be through a developmental system and being signed and getting on the radar that way. Becoming an extra and hopefully getting noticed — because I’m handsome, jacked, tan and charismatic. That’s eventually what did happen. But I had a lot of fun on the independents. The local scene was good to me, but I had to grow and I had to evolve and had to leave.”
How did growing up in the Midwest shape your personality? “You probably know being a Rust Belter how our personalities are. We’re very sarcastic and self-aware, maybe self-detrimental in some aspects. I think being from Cleveland, the amount of losses we’ve suffered in heartbreaking moments and fashion have kind of prepared us for anything in life. We can look out the window, and the world’s burning and culture is a disaster, and we’re like, ‘Yeah that’s nothing like when the Indians lost the 2016 World Series. I already know what this feels like.’ Being from the Midwest you have a unique personality. You can, if you apply yourself, have a very strong work ethic. People do work hard from this area. I always say I like being from Cleveland, but I also like not being there all the time. Now that I’m back, though, I am actually happy to be back, because it’s nice to be home.”
Talk to me a little about the territory system that NWA announced last year. I think that’s a bit of a foreign concept for a lot of current wrestling fans. So can you explain how that’s going to work with the NWA? “It’s gonna be a work in progress. I think the territory system of yesterday, that won’t be replicated. That can’t be replicated. I don’t think independent promotions are capable of it, just because there’s so much mainstream wrestling. What made the territories thrive back in the day was the lack of access to so many other things. There were other promotions where wrestlers could hone and develop their skills, craft their characters, and learn their trade in certain territories, then move on and be fresh again. Where as nowadays, if you’re known, you’re going to be known. Social media can put you anywhere. Television can put you anywhere. Territories back in the day were running 3 to 4 shows a week, and people were making their living off that. Today in the marketplace, it’s gonna be hard for a small company to run with such frequency. So the territories of the past, which were great and created this incredible business we have, we’re not going to be that as much as I think what we can be is an umbrella system for developing talent and getting talent recognized and noticed under the NWA banner. We’re all gonna be independently owned and operated. Exodus Pro and NWA Exodus is mine and mine alone. So I don’t got WPC (William Patrick Corgan) biting down on me for making decisions as much as he’s encouraging me to create the product that I see fit and that is suitable and capable enough to be under the NWA banner. I think if you get a few of these markets cooking, you just have more distribution of talent, you have more distribution of content. You have more platforms and more opportunities for wrestlers to be known and to make progress and get better and work with higher caliber talent to get signed. Whether it’s with the NWA or to be noticed by someone else and get signed there. So I think it’s a great opportunity that we can evaluate as we go.”
What did it mean to you to win the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship, and where does it rank on your list of accomplishments? “I don’t like to rank accomplishments as much as I like to stay present in the moment. But it was a pretty surreal deal. It was a pretty satisfying conclusion to difficult times ever since the pandemic. Whether it was personal or professional, I went through sh*t. A lot of sh*t I didn’t deserve. A lot of sh*t that was based on lies and misinterpretations. Web Is Jericho, you guys gave me a bunch of sh*t. And that’s OK. I don’t care. It made me better. It made me thrive. It made me transition into who I wanted to be and craft this character in the NWA — this extension of myself to become the NWA champion. To hold a title of such prestige and nostalgia and honor, but then to be the guy that kind of ushers in the new era, and bring it forward, is kind of a big deal. I retired Tyrus. I don’t think anybody’s mad about that. But Tyrus is somebody I came up with, and we have a long, long history and relationship. So for him to pass that baton to me as he goes on to be successful in other endeavors, that was a big deal. It was coming off the passing of Windham (Rotunda, aka Bray Wyatt), who we were both very close with. It was heartbreaking in a sense. The match itself, I didn’t want to have a wrestling match. What I wanted to do was perform a Greek f*cking tragedy, and I accomplished that. And we told a great story. And now my story continues as the NWA champion where I can help build and grow the NWA and grow myself personally.”
How far back do you go with Matt Cardona? “We’ve absolutely crossed paths. Matthew, when we were coming up in developmental at NXT, you looked at a guy like Matt Cardona who did everything he could to get over. He constantly reinvented himself. He constantly pushed the envelope. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. A lot of people that have been in that situation, when you get kind of relegated to a lower mid-card spot, eventually you just give up. And he never did. In fact, he pushed himself forward to have a really incredible run within the WWE. He won the Intercontinental title at Wrestlemania in front of his father. That’s an incredible accomplishment. But what he’s done since, he’s a revolutionary in the industry. He’s one of the only minds to match my own in quirkiness, creativity, and outside the box thinking. Our history, he was the first person to walk into The Narrative. He was in the original Control Your Narrative concept. So he was the guy I wanted to put in that position as we tried to craft something unique and different. He was unafraid to try something unique and different. We had great altercations, we have great verbal banter. I don’t like him. Dare I say I loathe him. I do respect him. I respect him more than a lot of people.”
There’s a similarity between you two in that I don’t think either of you really got a fair shake during your respective runs with the WWE. Because of that, is there more to prove for you? “There was at a time. But you can’t look at the past. You just have to prove yourself to yourself. I know Matt has a chip on his shoulder, and that’s why he’s done such incredible work since he’s left. He’s really one of the hottest tickets in town. I think he was just on Chris Van Vliet’s show talking about the fact that they bring people back (to WWE) who have done nothing. He went out there and did all these things within the industry that I bet his chip still exists. Having a chip on your shoulder is a good thing. Having angst can drive you to different places. I had that. I got past it. I became world champion again. Now, I’m not relegated to living in that past. Yeah, I had a sh*tty run (in WWE). So have a lot of people. Matt should’ve had more opportunities with what he was doing for himself. But so have other people. All we can be is present in the moment. And that moment is January 13 with ‘The Ultimate Match of Death.’”
As one of the veterans in NWA, who are some of the younger talent in the company that you think could be breakout stars in the business? You’ve had some big matches with a few of them. “Thrillbilly” Silas Mason comes to mind. “There’s a foundation I think we can build upon, and ‘Thrillbilly’ is definitely one of them. The territory system will help us allowing to get these guys high quality reps. He can only wrestle me every so often and other high level veterans to learn what he needs to learn. I’ve given him some, but I don’t want to give him too much, because he’s definitely one of the people on the list who can break out and take my spot … In five years! Not anytime soon. (NWA World Women’s Champion) Kenzie Paige is doing women’s wrestling better than a lot of other people on television. The Southern Six in general with Kerry Morton, he’s a little cocksure M-fer, and I enjoy that. Alex Taylor the same. I like Joe Alonzo. We just signed a kid, I found him in the dumpster in Cincinnati, his name is Carson Drake. So because of associating with me, look at him now. He’s signed to the NWA. That’s a good success story. That gives me great fulfillment, so I’m looking forward to what he can do.”
“Talking about others on the roster we have, Blunt Force Trauma are a solid, dominant tag team akin to old school Doom, and that’s cool. They’re managed by one of the most charismatic entertainers in wrestling in Aron Stevens. He’s an unheralded genius in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Thom Latimer, I’ve defeated him, but he’s one of the best wrestlers I’ve ever wrestled, and I don’t know if the world knows that. It’s something I wish they would know, because he’s Top 5 of anyone I’ve been in the ring with. And I’ve been in the ring with some of the greatest.”
What’s it like working for Billy Corgan? “It sucks … I’m kidding. WPC, we’re like-minded. Both weirdo Pisces. We’re both creative and go off the beaten path a little bit. But what I do respect and enjoy working with him is the plethora of knowledge he has. He knows so much about wrestling. Especially the history of wrestling. The plethora of knowledge that comes from being one of the most famous musicians in the world within business, within entertainment, within music, the stories he can tell and the people he knows, the fact he’s so grounded and down to earth with it, he’s a friend I can call on. Working for him what I really enjoy is the collaboration. I’ve come from systems that were very much tyrannical in a sense creatively, where with the NWA and William, it’s very collaborative. If you have a vision, and you portray it the right way, he can help make it come true.”
NWA Paranoia is Saturday, Jan. 13 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. For more information or to purchase tickets, click here. Watch the NWA on YouTube or visit nationalwrestlingalliance.com.
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