A former WWE/TNA star believes he’s blackballed from major wrestling promotions.
Former WWE 24/7 and TNA World Heavyweight Champion EC3 recently appeared on the WrestleShadow podcast. He opened up about his final run with WWE and his status with other major wrestling promotions during the conversation.
Talking about his final WWE run, EC3 noted that he was not a fan of his 2018 main roster call-up due to concerns about creative differences. He said he hated every second of it, but didn’t have a choice since they had to do whatever Vince McMahon said at that time.
“When the call up came, I didn’t want to go because I knew it wasn’t going to be the right call,” the former WWE star stated. “I knew it wasn’t going to be good. It was definitely not creatively fulfilling and it was definitely not something I look back on and enjoy. It sucked balls, it was the worst, it killed me inside, I hated every second of it. But also, it’s not my choice. They paid me money to be an employee. Do what you’re told.
“I think whatever Vince at the time said, went,” EC3 noted. “So if like, we’re blowing it up and we’re pulling 17 of your guys up right now like he’s like, ‘Okay, that’s what we got to do.’”
The former WWE star addressed the allegations of being blackballed
Speaking further, EC3 addressed the allegations that he’s been blackballed from other major promotions since his WWE exit in 2020. He believes that is the case and claimed it’s because most promotions can’t handle his “authentic truth.”
“I’m also probably blackballed from most of them because people can’t handle my authentic truth, and that’s fine,” EC3 claimed.
Apart from a brief stint in ROH from late 2020 to early 2021 and a nearly four-year run with NWA, which ended in January 2026, EC3 hasn’t been signed by other major promotions. He and former WWE Universal Champion Braun Strowman even launched their own promotion, Control Your Narrative (CYN), in 2022, but it failed to take off.
Update: EC3 says his comment about being blackballed was taken out of context.
EC3 also shared his thoughts on modern wrestling and ‘star ratings’
Sharing his thoughts on modern wrestlers, the former WWE star noted that many performers focus more on flashy moves instead of narrative and character depth.
“I don’t like the lack of matches on big shows,” EC3 said. “I don’t think every match needs to be 35 minutes too. I think you can get a lot out of like a depth of talent getting over in quicker matches that are not necessarily have to be 50/50 all the time.
“I love athleticism, dude. I love athleticism, I love kicking ass, I love being in shape,” the former WWE star stated. “But that doesn’t matter if you don’t care who I am and why I’m doing what I do… I mean I love athleticism, but [I don’t like] cosplay dancing and doing moves that don’t make sense.”
EC3 also dismissed the idea of star ratings, saying characters are more important than putting on big matches. He cited AEW’s Bryan Danielson as someone who succeeded because of his character work.
“Ranking a match that was designed to get something over with a quality decider doesn’t make sense to me because the purpose of it was to do what it did,” EC3 explained. “The purpose of it wasn’t to fit in this criteria that is made up and bastardized.
“I definitely preferred character in a sense because if people do not recognize or empathize or dislike or like or care about the character, there’s a very small sector of fans that are there just for the grappling and the moves,” the former WWE star said. “Where the character makes the difference. I’m definitely geared towards character, but you don’t have great matches if you don’t have two people you care about.
Extraordinary and enlightening and hilarious,” he said regarding Danielson’s personality. “He is a great character. So character to me is most important because everything trickles down through that.” [H/T WrestlingNews.co]
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