Since arriving in the National Wrestling Alliance, EC3 has shown that he can be the Essential Character in wrestling and is an OverMan because he’s over … man. Since defeating Tyrus at NWA 75 for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, EC3 has traveled the world defending the Vaunted Ten Pounds of Gold.
SlamWrestling.net caught up with EC3 in Salt Lake City, Utah, as he was getting ready for his match against Manny Lemons in Devotion Championship Wrestling. Since this was the first time we spoke to him since winning the belt, we asked his thoughts about his title run. “I had the World Heavyweight Championship for over a year,” he said. “I defended it over 70 times on four different continents. I’ve been quite busy.”
That’s putting it mildly, as one of those title defenses included putting up the Ten Pounds of Gold at All Japan Pro Wrestling against Ryuki Honda. We asked EC3 what it felt like representing the NWA for the first time in many years in the historic Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. “All Japan’s a historic company. I mean, to bring the NWA World championship back, man, I think it was over 20 years since it was back in All Japan before I brought it back there,” he recalled in awe at the memory,
“I mean, Japan’s awesome,” EC3 continued. “Great people, great culture, great fans, great competition, great food, great women. I have a type, but it was awesome to represent the NWA and represent America over in Japan, and [I] look forward to going back.”
EC3 has been busy traveling the globe to various continents from Japan to France, to… what other places did we forget? “Oh, I mean, does Canada count?” EC3 quipped. “I don’t think it does. South America, at one point. I had put in talks to go wrestle in the mud in Uganda.”
These days, he has also kept busy with the new Exodus Pro promotion, which was the first territory announced for the renewed NWA partnership system. While EC3 had focused on the Control Your Narrative for a couple of years, he has a lot of pride with what this current promotion is capable of under his guidance. “This is my true vision and my true … I guess, oh, I say artistic expression,” he said, “but this is the platform I wanted to create for the future of the industry to be one the first NWA territory.
“You know, that’s a big honor,” he continued, “and so holding those three letters on your brand means a lot. But Exodus is different. Exodus is pro wrestling at its core, what it’s meant to be; sports, art, entertainment, story, psychology, deep dives … overall, a shit-ton of fun.
During our interview, he made it a point to put over one of the stars he brought to Devotion Championship Wrestling, Dante Casanova. “[Dante], who’s a young project of mine, is making a lot of headway and has a very bright future.”
The same can be said for all those on the Exodus Pro roster, from Pretty Boy Smooth to Carson Drake, who won the NWA Television Championship on a recent NWA Powerrr show. When bringing up those wrestlers, EC3 was quick to highlight the “Journeys End” show that was on YouTube recently.
“From that first match to that last match, every person on that show has a reason and a why to be there,” he explained, “and that’s what I think is missing in wrestling. Sometimes people just go out there just to wrestle, or they can’t create [or] can’t find anything for them, and that’s not the case at all.
“Everybody on that show being over from people that they’ve seen on TV to people that they don’t even know. I’m a strategic genius. Exodus is awesome. I encourage you to check it out.”
One of the things to check out was EC3’s title run coming to an end at NWA 76 as he lost the Ten Pounds of Gold to his main rival, Thom Latimer. Most times they fought in the ring, EC3 managed to come out on top, when we asked what was different this time around, The Overman put this into perspective: “As I said, I cultivate greatness. I bring the absolute best out of everybody,” he said. “But what’s different about him is that everything I’ve done to him over two years, everything I’ve said to him, he finally listened to [it] and it clicked. And guess what happened? It worked out.”
As for what the future holds for The Overman, EC3 left SlamWrestling.net with this parting thought. “Look at the history of the world,” he said. “Republics, they will become empires. Sometimes democracies can become tyrannical states. Maybe we’re living in one at the end of the day. Overmen, they can become overlords.”
We will see which one will show up as EC3 gets his rematch for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the Samhain 2 signature event recently held in Tampa, FL, which will be shown on New Year’s Eve, December 31st on the social media platform, X.
TOP PHOTO: EC3 on assuming his final form as The OverMan of the NWA. Courtesy of the NWA
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Tuesday on an all-new NWA Powerrr at 6:05pm EST exclusively on X:
Thom Latimer defends the Worlds Heavyweight Championship against former Champion EC3!A rivalry that has been evolving for years, will this be the night it finally comes to an end? pic.twitter.com/PD7sEYwX9w
— NWA (@nwa) December 30, 2024
