Former WWE and Impact Wrestling star EC3 was interviewed this week by Chris Van Vliet. EC3 talked about testing positive for COVID-19, being released by WWE, his creative control on Ring Of Honor and Impact Wrestling, and more.
Here are some highlights and make sure to check out the full interview by scrolling down on this page.
EC3 talked about having Covid: “I’ve been quarantined for a week to 10 days. At this point, I have Covid and I’m at the tail end of it. It sucked a little bit. Some of it wasn’t bad. I’m healthy so I was fortunate. It infected my parents who were visiting me so they had to stay longer so I’ve had no alone time. It drove me nuts but we had a great time spending time together so it was cool. I’m at the tail end of it so I will be healthy. Ring of Honor caught it with the protocol they have for testing. What they are doing is working and working well. I would say I’m at 90%. This is the tail end of it. It felt like the flu and a moderately bad cold some of the time. I would say one day it attacked my stomach because I farted too much. One day I had a bad set of chills where I had a double hoodie on. One night I woke up and had a 10-minute respiratory cough and I got why this sucks. I felt like I was breathing fire for like 10 minutes and I’ve been fine ever since.”
EC3 asked what his character in WWE didn’t release him during the pandemic: “I was going to force their hand to do this (his current character). The only thing that kept me there was a pandemic. My parents own a small business and my family might need this money. Around that WrestleMania time, I was coming back from a serious concussion that cost me 5 or 6 months and it really changed my life and made me think about this character (the one he is doing now). I pitched this idea and included a promo with it. I sent it in on a Wednesday and two hours later I got fired the day that I sent in this magnificent pitch. The first thing I thought was I’m actually ok with this. This is fine. Don’t worry about it. I posted the pitch and the promo to the world. The thing I didn’t want people to think was I sat around and did nothing.”
EC3 was asked about his concussions: “It was at a live event. We can start a three-prong story. One was at TakeOver Brooklyn with Velveteen Dream. I was DDT’d on a ramp and I don’t remember anything until I woke up in a trainer’s room. They asked if I knew where I was? I said no. I don’t remember the match which sucks because that’s a big platform. I came back 6 weeks later and I got caught with a knee to the back of the head in an NXT match. That’s the second one in two months so they were really going to be cautious. While I was out, I got called up with the concussion which felt weird. Anytime I’ve been injured, it’s never been how long until I’m healthy, it’s always how long until I can be back. I probably came back too soon, but I was getting called up. It was the moment I waited for my whole life. It was all I ever wanted. I got called up with it. The run is what it is. I think a few months down the road, a live event match, I got caught with a Luchadore flying forearm or something. It knocked me silly but I kept trying to work with it because I didn’t think it was what it was. One day I showed up for TV, fish white, and if I’m not tan, something is wrong. They asked if I was alright? I said I don’t know. I took the test and I was concussed. I went through the protocol and coming back from the protocol, I couldn’t pass the test this time. It was very difficult. They have a physical therapist available which I’m very grateful for to help you with sensory things to get through this. They have a psychiatrist too because there was something with the dopamine released in my brain. I was a mess. I was alone in this suite, one-percenter in this apartment in downtown Orlando. But I’m living there as a recluse, sitting on my couch, miserable and I’m brain dead in the dark. The TV couldn’t even stay on because it hurt my brain. It sucked for a long time. For residual effects, I don’t know if there was a change in psyche and mentality and stuff like that perhaps, but as far as being able to perform in the ring safely to myself and my opponent, I have no residual effects.”
