EC3 Reveals "The Only Reason" He Returned To WWE After His First Release

EC3 was a guest on the latest episode of The Ringer Wrestling Podcast. During the conversation, he discussed his most recent stint in WWE, which unfortunately ended with little fanfare.

He returned to WWE with one goal in mind, and for various reasons was rendered unable to make it come to fruition. Facing off with two of WWE's biggest all-time stars wasn't in the cards for EC3.

"I would have loved to be in the ring with John Cena and Randy Orton," EC3 admitted. "That's the only reason I came back. Because I remember seeing that promo between Roman and Cena before Cena left for a good while. I remember, I knew how John worked, he's very much in the moment. They're not writing for him. Speaking from here, I'm like, 'God, if this was me, it would be, this would be electric,' because I kind of work the same way.

"But it wasn't, and it was good. But that's what made me want, I've got to give it a shot to go back and do that. That never happened. Now, I mean maybe, because seeing Control Your Narrative's not really a wrestling promotion, maybe call the Peacemaker's agent, have him come down to the Narrative and I could kick his a–. What a great show."

With the announcement that EC3's new CYN promotion has a television deal coming, wrestlers are coming out of the woodwork for an opportunity. With something like this, it's hard to know who is trustworthy and who isn't. That is the reason why EC3 remains unsure of people until he has a chance to speak to them himself.

"I thought Matt Cardona was a great person because we're very like-minded, but we're very different. So using him, like, he took what we did, it's by no means at all part of his success, a success he made coming out of it becoming who he is now king of the indies and stuff like that. It's very rewarding seeing — did this process help? I don't know. I can pretend it did. To me, it did, and hopefully to him. And now, he's killing it. Same thing with Braun Strowman becoming Adam Scherr, rising of Titan. The guy was going through literal life crises at the time and this process helped him come out of that.

"So the big thing I'm looking for is a talent that wants to create and be something different, and kind of think outside the wrestling bubble and still understand within it the basic wrestling psychology, character development, storytelling work, and how do we make it work in 2022? What I'm looking for from new people is engaging in the story because, you know, a lot of people, 'oh, EC3 has a TV deal,' I'm getting blown up, nonstop.

"Some people I know, some people I don't. And, you know, they're sending me their YouTube videos, and their matches, and their resumes, and things like that. And I can't tell, 'okay, you can do the moves, cool. Okay, you look alright, cool.' I won't know until I meet you, and see you, and kind of talk you. What do you want out of this?"

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Ringer Wrestling Podcast and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription