Former WWE star EC3 dreamed of being a wrestler since childhood, and in 2009, his dreams of signing with WWE came true.
Speaking on the latest episode of The Wrestling Outlaws, Ethan Carter III detailed how he was working at the Cheesecake Factory when he signed his contract with the sports entertainment giant. The night after he signed his contract, he went to a Cleveland Cavaliers basketball game in his home state of Ohio, and he found himself getting into a confrontation with someone in the bathroom.
“I had my WWE tryout before I got signed. But I got signed, and it was the greatest moment of my life. I was working at the Cheesecake Factory and I got the call… The next night I got to a Cav’s game, I’m wearing a LeBron jersey. But I have muscles so I just have the jersey on, not the t-shirt on underneath. Cavs win, I’m in the bathroom, little sauced up. But this guy just kept talking to me… I’m like, ‘Don’t do this.’ I try to leave, I turn around and he’s in my face.”
“I Go Into Pro Wrestling Mode” – Former WWE Star EC3 On Bathroom Confrontation
Continuing, EC3 said that he went into “pro wrestling mode” when it came to being confronted and ended up being punched in the face for his trouble.
“I go into pro wrestling mode for some reason. You’re in a heated angle and you’re in my face before you lock up sometimes the guy is just going to pie-face you. So I pie-face the guy, because I’m still kind of wired as a wrestler from trying out to become a wrestler for a living. So IO pie-face the dude. Next thing you know… boom, I’m punched in the face. I’m like, wait. And then I’m getting tackled.
“And I’m like, ‘Oh wait, this is real.’ Moral of the story, I give him the toss up. I have some moves on me to toss him off. He’s getting up and I just think of William Regal and I hit him with the running knee to him, boom. Then I got pulled out. Nearly wrestled him but not fully.”
Though his first stint in WWE didn’t result in him making it to the main roster before being released in 2013, the former Derrick Bateman re-signed with the sports entertainment giant in 2018 after reinventing himself in IMPACT Wrestling. He found some success in NXT before making his way to Raw in February of 2019. However, his time on the main roster saw him adopt a gimmick of not speaking, a bizarre choice for someone known for his promo skills.
Carter’s only notable feud on Raw before moving to the 24/7 Championship division was a short-lived program with Jon Moxley, then known as Dean Ambrose. He handed Ambrose an upset defeat in his Raw debut, but Ambrose came out on top of the feud in the end, defeating EC3 the next week.
EC3 was once again released from WWE in April of 2020 amidst budget cuts due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
h/t Sportskeeda