The Narrative of EC3
On March 22nd, 2018, the reveal of the feast or fired briefcases was done. It was a high stakes tradition at Impact, where four wrestlers got a chance to win a title shot at 3 of the main titles, but one of the cases holding a pink slip that would fire that unlucky wrestler. At the tail end of the segment, Moose and Ethan Carter the Third stood in the ring with their cases. At that time, one of them held a shot at the World Championship. The other had a pink slip. In the end, Moose walked out the ring with a future shot at the World title, and EC3 was made to walk out of the ring, and the company.
The Feast or Fired reveal event was the last time most of us thought we would ever see Dixie Carter’s precious nephew in an Impact ring. EC3, the man whose family had helped to save Impact many times over, now being forced to leave that same company. With the roster rooting for this outcome, a crowd serenading him out with the familiar tune of Steam’s “Nah Nah Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” and some smatterings of "Thank You Ethan", Ethan Carter left Impact Wrestling kicking and screaming, and dragged out of the company.
Then, cut to years later, in 2020. Slammiversary 2020 was a night of big moments and surprises. The return of the Motor City Machine Guns to face the Rascalz and challenge the North. We had the debut of the Good Brothers to Impact's tag team scene. We had the crowning Eddie Edwards as new Impact World Champion. Then, at the end of the nice, we had the reveal of the mysterious figure who watched over the events of the show. That man was EC3.
However, this man was not the same EC3 that was last seen getting fired by Impact all those years ago. He was colder, more ruthless, with his trademark hair shaved down, a short beard covering his chiseled face, and a new mission to ‘control the narrative.’ and destroy his celebrated past.
His first target, his old rival and the self proclaimed TNA World Champion, Moose.
Since Rebellion Night 2, Moose had called himself the TNA World Champion. With no actual World champion in the company at the time, Moose took the pleasure to promote himself at the real world champion of the company with the formerly retired TNA World Championship belt. With this title, Moose personally invite others to go after his title. He went after old TNA names like Hernandez and Suicide, as well as others like Tommy Dreamer, Trey, and even Heath to cement his reign. Moose “retained” his title time and time again, and celebrated as the TNA World Champion and the true Mr. Impact Wrestling.
Then, after one of those title defenses, EC3 returned to the Impact Zone, took down Moose, and stole the belt away from him. For weeks, EC3 taunted Moose with the prospect of destroying the belt, setting it on fire, cutting it into pieces, before he ended up unceremoniously tossing it away like litter. All the while, reiterating his point of burning down the past, wiping his legacy away, and, again, "controlling his narrative",
With this new EC3, the glitz and the glamour, the flashy videos and the loud music was replaced by three slashes. Three to represent his new focus in life: Control, Freedom, and Purpose. To be in control of oneself, to be free to feel and act, and the self realization to find purpose, in his words. All this was also adding to the idea that everything about his old life, from start to finish, needed to be cast away, destroyed and moved past.
The destruction of the TNA World title has led to a showdown between Moose and EC3 at Bound for Glory, 7 years after he made his debut at the same event. Moose will be seeking revenge for his lost title, while EC3 seems more interested in "freeing" Moose from himself. After all the mind games and all the warnings, it will finally come to a head at the next PPV.
So, the question remains. Why did EC3, if he wanted nothing more to separate himself from his old life, return to the company and look to break everything that ever bore his name?
The answer to that could be in the narrative, or rather, the narrative that EC3 wants to control.
When EC3 was fired by Impact Wrestling, the wrestling world was his for the taking. At that point, EC3 was a two time World Heavyweight Champion and former Grand Champion. He had victories over wrestling legends and icons like Kurt Angle, Sting, Magnus, James Storm, Matt Hardy, Abyss, Drew Galloway, and many many more. The Impact Zone, whether at home in Florida or abroad the various arena it ran, was home to cheers and chants in support of the One Percenter.
Ethan Carter was seemingly ready to take on the world after Impact Wrestling. The narrative that came after was that the world won.
Ethan himself, post Impact, seemed to disappear from the wrestling world's collective consciousness.. The highs that Ethan Carter the Third experienced in Impact were not replicated elsewhere. People rushed to brand him a failure, and whip up any number or reasons for what happened. Was the reach of his aunt Dixie not as far as he needed? Was it the age old story of the brass ring being just out of grasp? Did the consequences of his rough and rowdy past come back to haunt him? Whatever the reasoning, the narrative was set; that Ethan Carter, far from the loving arms of Impact, was a no one.
With EC3's return, he made it clear he was not in this to come back home, to be with his family, or to do anything to return to his old routine. He was not interested in facing off for the Impact World Championship. He was not interested in facing the new faces of the Impact locker room, or trading barbs with the various smack talkers in the company like he used to. He was only there to do one thing: wipe out anything and everything about his past and burn it to the ground.
He rejected his name. He rejected his accolades and accomplishments. He rejected the company that he started with, and the allies he had. It all had to go away. The time he spent outside the company made him hate those things that made him Ethan Carter the Third. It all must be destroyed if there was anything to make him whole again. It all had to be destroyed by him.
Ethan Carter the Third, EC3, is dead. III is here now, and you have been warned.
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