EC3 Interview: Signing With ROH, Jay Briscoe, Controlling His Narrative, Leaving WWE, More

As someone who has always fed off the audience, how much of a help or a hindrance has it been creatively to be wrestling in front of no fans?

EC3: There's some things I've done within these walls where I said, “The only thing missing is an audience's reaction,” which is very true. Feeding off the adrenaline, give or take, they're as much a part of the show as the people performing. The ability to be out there and feeling things and changing on the whim or giving the audience what they want or what they don't want. It's a missed asset for sure, but it makes it that much more challenging to tell stories in a different way.

As you'll see with what we're doing in Ring of Honor, especially in this match with Jay Briscoe at Ring of Honor, the story has to become what's happening here, what our commentators are relaying and using that as a creative means until we have audiences back. At the same time, these new facets we learn and apply, when we have an audience, it's going to make it that much better.

If there was no pandemic, would you still have started doing the vignettes, and how have they helped your run in ROH so far?

EC3: The purpose of the vignettes was me trying to change who and what I was doing. I just wasn't able to, no matter how many times I pitched to. When the time came regardless I was going to do it, whether they wanted it or not and let the chips fall where they may. Instead of getting a chance to do it... I released the first vignette the day I was fired because I filmed it that day. When it came down to that, I realized the creative system is broken. It's awful and hampering and inefficient. I'm going to take this 90 days to create a character by myself with whatever I have which is a gray wall, a camera and a good buddy to bounce my ideas off of, and it became so much more as it expanded.

The vignettes probably would have happened one way or another within the character I wanted to create. Would the subject matter have been as relevant? I don't know, it probably would have went a slightly different route but in the same vein. But I did want to create something with a payoff, that's why I cinematically shot my very first match because I knew coming to a company like IMPACT or coming to a company like Ring of Honor they're going to through me right in the mix. This character has no base yet, nobody knows what I'm doing or how I move and still don't.

Even coming into Ring of Honor 19th, I have no moves. I have no mannerisms. Creating that would have been similar, but it probably would have been different. At the same time, after the pandemic-induced bloodletting, we would've had 90 days to be on shows in other places whether that be independent, non-televised things. Not only was that a missed financial opportunity, it was an opportunity to not hone in on what I was doing and that's okay because I just had to do it myself which I'm okay with that because that's controlling your narrative.

Catch EC3 vs. Jay Briscoe at ROH's 19th Anniversary Show this Friday, March 26th on HonorClub and pay-per-view.