12 Wrestlers Who Did Their BEST Work In TNA & IMPACT

For reasons that will never be entirely clear, WWE has always booked Michael Hutter as though he owed them something. They did it when he was Derrick Bateman, and oh boy did they do it when he returned as EC3. The former displayed more potential than most at a time when NXT was a wretched gameshow. The latter had "WWE Star" plastered all over him but was relegated to whatever came below enhancement talent. It felt as though WWE signed EC3 out of spite and was happy to leave him to rot.

Not so in TNA, where Ethan Carter III became a genuine star. He was given a big push from the get-go and didn’t let the side down, riding on his classic looks and natural charisma to get over as the biggest heel in the company, embarking on a character arc that did more for Dixie Carter than anything previous and made Rockstar Spud a legitimate star in the process.

In TNA, EC3 was a two-time World Heavyweight Champion, picking up the Grand Championship along the way as well. He was a major success on both sides of the booking ledger, garnering massive heat as a heel and adoration as a face. He was every bit the star that his ability and charisma demand.

EC3 returned to WWE just two weeks after his final Impact appearance, immediately slotting into the upper echelons of NXT. There was hope. Expectation. Excitement. Would WWE finally do right by Michael Hutter? We all know the answer to this story, a ‘no’ that should be in capital letters. Stripped of his promos and not given any in-ring time, EC3 was the afterthought of an afterthought, a vague memory of something that may or may not have happened but doesn’t really matter either way.