As we reported earlier tonight, top TNA star Ethan Carter III rushed the ring at tonight’s Evolve 61 IPPV event and, along with Drew Galloway, attacked Johnny Gargano ending the show’s main event. EC3 then cut a scathing promo on NXT, Triple H, independent wrestlers and more.
Featured below is a full transcript of the promo, edited for clarity.
“[Galloway] became a world champion on his own. I became a world champion on my own. So the way I look at it, you know who kinda blew it? The 203. Stamford, CT. Up north. The ‘King of Kings’, that’s who blew it.”
EC3 and Galloway then fight off multiple referees and wrestlers trying to interfere, as EC3 continues his shoot, now addressing the talent that tried to chase him off.
“No, no, I get it. I get it guys, you wanna make the next step. You want to be good soldiers. But take it from us – you know what they do to good soldiers? They put them on the front line and make them take the bullet.”
EC3 then emulates urinating on the Evolve turnbuckle and dropping an “EC2” on the canvas.
“You wanna take that next step? You wanna get to the show everybody loves? ‘Oh we have great matches, compelling characters, great storylines, NXT, NXT, yay! You know what makes a star? Surviving. Try surviving obstacle courses. Getting slimmed. Wheelbarrow races. Six-minute TV matches where you can’t do any of your cool moves. And Redemption Points! Here we stand, a true success story of independence. Independence is not [ ] to the machine; independence is succeeding despite it.”
Carter was of course referring to his time in WWE, where he actual competed in the original NXT concept when the program was a reality competition. Drew Gulak then rushes the ring and is met with the same fate as the others before him.
“Nice boots Gulak. Do you know what this is? This is a microphone. This is how you create box office. This is how you put asses in seats. No flips and false-finishes. This man (points to Galloway) was ‘chosen’ as a reason. If I can be humble for a second – I have been endorsed by the best, only to be destroyed by the worst. So I’m gonna shoot with you real fast, buddy. By endorsed I mean Hall of Famers, world champions, that kind of thing. But when it comes to being destroyed, I can only think of one obese sociopath who’s best known for being [ ]. So hey Bill, guess what – I won!”
At this point, TJ Perkins rushes the ring and is also taken out by both men, finished off with a powerbomb by Galloway. Carter continues…
“I’m not finished! We are the last bastion of the independents here. We are two men – we weren’t failed football projects. We weren’t models. We weren’t body builders pulled out of a gym. We sure as hell weren’t anyone’s kids! We are two men who love this industry, who breath this industry. To us this isn’t a game – this is our god damn lives.”
It was at this point that Ethan Page rushed the ring with a steel chair and the Evolve talent was all able to run off the invading TNA force. The two sides had a staredown and traded promos for a bit before EC3 and Galloway ended up leaving.
This entire angle was to set up a tag team match featuring Gargano and TJP taking on EC3 and Galloway at the next Evolve show on June 10th.
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