EC3 who is also known by the name of Ethan Carter III who is currently active in the National Wrestling Alliance and on the independent circuit had been a utility talent in WWE and he was known as Derrick Bateman. But he could never be a renowned star in WWE even after working in the promotion for five long years.
EC3 left WWE in 2013 and he went to TNA Wrestling which later became Impact Wrestling. He became one of the top stars of the promotion where he won multiple big championships. He returned to WWE again in 2018 and this time everybody thought he is going to be a big star of the promotion. But that never happened. In spite he had to job. Speaking on “Under the Ring” recently, he explained;
Behind the Curtain: EC3 Offers a Glimpse into What Went Wrong During His WWE Stint
“It was horrible — it sucked from a business and a personal standpoint,” EC3 said about getting fired from WWE. “But I’ve never been bitter or resentful or angry, because everything that happens to you has to happen to you, for reasons that either pan out or they don’t.” The 40-year-old then detailed the mistakes he made that he believes cost him his WWE job.
“Did I do everything I possibly could to make sure they knew who the ‘F’ I was? Probably not,” EC3 continued. “If I have a regret, my regret is I didn’t go all in, to either get fired or get what I thought I deserved. I kind of just let it lay, because it’s very easy to kind of just — ‘Well, I’m getting paid a bunch of money. If I speak up, I could take that risk and make more, and get what I really feel like I should have, or I could get fired and have nothing.’ So it’s kind of a tough situation.”
EC3 Was Released From WWE In 2020
“When you know nobody cares, at first it hurts, but then you realize you have the ultimate platform and playground to … experiment and do things,” EC3 stated. “I think why I’m kind of able to trust intuition and not worry as much about what people think is because we were thrown out there in front of dead crowds … doing God knows what, and we just tried to run with it and do the best we could.”
“By going against the grain, and being noticed, and kind of getting over in a sense, it was almost [like] we got punished for it,” EC3 continued. “Which is a baffling business decision, but it’s not my company, so what can I say?” included the former two times TNA World Heavyweight Champion.
WWE was heavily criticized for the way they treated EC3. Even Dean Ambrose shared some words to criticize WWE while talking about him. After he left WWE, he never went to any big promotion. He himself told that he would never work for any major promotion anymore. He is doing pretty good on the independent circuit and in NWA right now.
H/T – Wrestling Inc.