TNA star Ethan Carter III spoke with Everybody Hates Cleveland.com about going from WWE to TNA, working with Sting and Kurt Angle. Check out the highlights down below:
His thoughts on working with Kurt Angle and Sting: It’s a great opportunity that they trusted me and were like, “Here’s an opportunity? Can you hang?” The thing with Sting is it was awesome because wow, it’s Sting. Holy smokes. The matches were short and meh but to be able to work the vocabulary and the talking angles, that was so important to me. That changed me and even in the middle of doing it, I could feel myself improving standing with him as we talked. I felt it for real. I felt, “Here’s a guy, and this is what ‘being over’ is like.” I could feel a different reception from the crowd towards him. It’s different when you’re in the ring with a guy like that, so that was awesome. Again, I thank TNA for having faith in me. Kurt, same thing, and I just wish we had more time. I wish his knee wasn’t injured, but he’ll be back, and I’ll be waiting. I don’t think he’s done by a long shot.
Making the transition from being in WWE Developmental to being a main event player in TNA: The only thing that’s changed with me is that an opportunity was given as opposed to not given. I’m very thankful for it, and I plan on running with it because this is what I’ve been waiting for my whole life. I’m not shocked with the amount of success I have had personally, I’m just shocked at the amount of opportunity and leeway this company has granted me and given me the ball to run with. I can’t be anything more than thankful because it’s been an awesome ride. I really look forward to continuing our success. I feel very good about the future. It’s proven in the numbers, we’re going up, and everyone seems to really be bringing their “A” game on the entire roster from the newer talent we’re using to the veterans. This is like family, and it’s awesome.
When people praise you for your work in TNA, do you have a chip on your shoulder about that? I’ve always had a drive and a strong work ethic. That added a chip to my shoulder, but it hasn’t changed me at all. It’s nice to hear, and I hear that from people in the company, but it doesn’t matter because what I am now is a TNA superstar. They have given me the ball, this is my home, this is my family, and this is all I care about. It’s great to have accolades, and I like that people respect what I can do, and I hope I have a million fans out there, and I hope they all watch TNA and we continue going forward. But yeah, they dropped the ball. Whatever. I ain’t mad at it.
His thoughts on TNA’s TV deal with Spike: No, because one thing I think with the Internet is it likes to pick on this company as it always does. Any misinformation will be misconstrued. God bless wrestling, and I love wrestling. It’s my life. But man, wrestling fans are horrible sometimes. Not all of them, but there’s a vocal minority out there. And it’s like why, if you love something, would you hate something about it? I love Cleveland sports and we have off years, but I don’t start hating the teams. So no, I’m not worried about it. I think every two years, these negotiations come up and these rumors happen. We’re moving to Wednesday nights, which I think is a great idea. As far as our future, I have a full faith that we are going in the right direction and whether it’s Spike or somewhere else, we are going to be an asset.
