Welcome one and all, I am Tybo! and by now you should know that I am the ‘Five Star General’ of this operation we call SLTD Wrestling.
‘Ladies and gentlemen… E.C.3. Trouble, Trouble, Trouble, Trouble, Trouble, Trouble, Trouble, Trouble…’
Ethan Carter III is the current TNA World Heavyweight Champion, and as far as I know only the second man in pro-wrestling to become World Heavyweight Champion of any wrestling company and be undefeated, the first being WCW’s Goldberg. But my question to you this week… Is Ethan Carter III (EC3) best for business?
Before EC3’s main event days in TNA, before he was a 1%er, before he knew he had a rich auntie who owned her own wrestling company, Carter was relegated to WWE’s ‘C’ show NXT (this was back when NXT had not titles and was … terrible) and called himself Derrick Bateman. Bateman was kicking it with Maxine and calling themselves Betamax! (absolutely genius, if you ask me!) he also had a long feud with Johnny Curtis, that is before Curtis remembered that he was a ballroom dancer. For a while I honestly thought that Bateman, Curtis and Maxine were going to debut on the main event roster in a tag team/faction and become the new M’N’M. Unfortunately it seems that was not to be, Maxine and Bateman were released and Curtis is now wasted talent, as Fandango.
Ethan Carter III debuted as Dixie Carters spoilt nephew after a series of vignette’s, he would go on to defeat a series of ‘jobbers’ and eventually after over a 450 day long undefeated streak, EC3 would beat ‘TNA Hall of Famer’ and Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on July 1st of this year.
So, as I said before my small history lesson. Is Ethan Carter III best for business?
The short answer is yes, but let me explain.
Carter is a rare talent that was less than an after thought in the biggest wrestling company in the world. But in a much smaller world and given the time and freedom to work on building a gimmick from the ground up and slowly week after week adding another layer to the EC3 character, he has shown that he can really pick the ball up and run with it. Especially in the trying times that the TNA talent are going through at the moment. It seems every week you hear another story of someone not getting paid, or someone else (usually a TNA original) leaving the company. All this happening backstage can not be good for anyone, but to be the World Heavyweight Champion of a struggling company, and to be the ‘face’ of that company must be a hard task for anyone.
I would never want to say TNA is sinking ship, personally I am a huge fan of TNA. I think it has some amazing talent and has put on some world class events and matches over the years. I don’t think there is any denying that the company is struggling at the minute. I would really hope that they can pull themselves back to former glory. With all this going on I think it shows what sort of talent that Carter is, as it would be easy for TNA to do what is tried and tested in the wrestling world and keep the Heavyweight Championship on a ‘legend’ but TNA clearly seen something in Carter and made him the top guy. I cant really remember the last time this happened, outside of maybe Bobby Roode.
Personally, I think Carter is the best Heavyweight Champion TNA have had since Bobby Roode. Roode was without a doubt the best thing in wrestling when he was Champion. Roode 100% made TNA must see TV, everything he did was amazing and every match he had was five star. For me, Carter is the in the same class, he makes you want to watch the product, to see what he does, to see what he says. Roode’s promos were always one of the things that made him completely stand out from everyone else on the roster at the time. And once again Carter is the same. EC3’s promos are solid heel work with a touch of hidden humor, that some get and some don’t.
Carter has said himself, that there was only certain countries that even knew NXT was still a show when he was there. At the time, NXT was not shown on TV in the US. So WWE’s biggest audience didn’t even know who he was. NXT was shown in the UK, so when they came over he was shocked at the response. Its for this reason that I would call Carter TNA homegrown talent, I think this is an important thing to mention, because the future of TNA is uncertain (in my eyes at least) but I think if they can concentrate on building new fresh talent, like Ethan Carter’s TNA could have be around for another ten years.
So, here is the hard question. In the world of wrestling, its very hard to not ‘drop the ball’ so, where does Carter go from here? He is the current TNA World Heavyweight Champion, and he is currently undefeated. The problem with this is he will receive his first loss ever, and lose the Championship in the same match. This is inevitable, and also not my issue. My issue is who does he lose to? Personally, I only want one thing to happen here, I want Carter to not drop the title for a long time, but when he does for him to drop it to someone who deserves it. Not a former WWE Superstar, not someone who is on the back end of their career. Someone who is going to take on the mantel of the company.
Now this is where I completely contradict myself, I’m not an idiot, if WWE call and offer more money and better benefits, and to work your craft in front of millions more people you would need your head tested to at the very least not consider it. I have already written about the possibility of Carter going back to WWE or more specifically NXT (Tybo Talks… Top Five TNA to NXT) but as a side note to that, I honestly don’t think WWE would be interested in Carter or that Carter would be interested in going back to WWE, but if it did ever happen I would be confident that Carter would be placed in a better standing place in the company, and personally I can’t think of a reason why he shouldn’t be. Ethan Carter III could very well be the beginning of a new wave of talent to bring TNA out of the funk it is in and help build it to be a more formidable alternative for the juggernaut that is WWE.
So there we have another Tybo Talks in the bag! Do you agree? What are your thoughts on Ethan Carter and TNA in general? Let me know below.
Owner and operator of www.SLTDWrestling.com, host of SLTDRadio at www.SLTDRadio.co.uk and on Spreaker
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