Ring of Honor (ROH) has secured a location in Baltimore and are set to resume television tapings this week, to produce the first new shows for the company since the start of the pandemic. And according to PWInsider’s Mike Johnson, there will be an unexpected name in attendance and he may just be out to control ROH’s narrative…
Johnson is reporting that former WWE superstar and current IMPACT Wrestling talent, EC3, is in Baltimore and will make his Ring of Honor debut as part of this week’s tapings. Also set to be part of the tapings is the return of the Pure Tournament, which was originally scheduled to take place in April. ROH has revealed much of the field for the tournament to crown the first Pure Champion in over a decade with names including former champ Jay Lethal, Jonathan Gresham, Matt Sydal, David Finlay, Tracy Williams, Josh Woods, PJ Black, Rocky Romero, and the debuting Wheeler Yuta and Tony Deppen.
EC3’s own ROH debut may come as a shock to some but the wrestling free agent has teased from the beginning, that he could show up in any company at any time. He specifically referenced ROH in a June promo, stating, “there is no honor in what we do.” EC3 was calling out WWE for their practices, but the video ended with him in front of the ROH logo, suggesting his next move could be to a company with a little more honor than what he perceived to be the case in his previous one.
But EC3 didn’t just tease coming to ROH. He teased AEW, NXT, even a return to WWE’s main roster. He also teased a return to IMPACT Wrestling, which ultimately and most fittingly, was where he made his first appearance post-WWE. One of IMPACT’s greatest exports, EC3 built his career with the company, winning several titles and enjoying a year-plus streak of being unlined and unsubmitted. The storyline nephew of then owner, Dixie Carter, EC3 walked around like he owned the place and was always good for cutting a great promo and putting on a good match.
EC3 returned to IMPACT at Slammiversary with a video, but followed that up with an in-person appearance a few nights later, instantly targeting Moose and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. But perhaps not for the reasons one may have thought as through EC3’s feud with Moose, which has been ongoing for several weeks, it seems the former champ doesn’t want to regain the title but rather destroy it, taking with it the past he so wants to erase.
In ROH, EC3 has no history. No past to move on from. No stories to re-write endings to. No wrongs to right. All he has is a blank canvas with a sea of wrestlers he’s never faced before. It’s a great opportunity for him to continue writing his own narrative and defining his own path. EC3 has said in interviews he wants to go everywhere and doesn’t want to call any one place home just yet. He’s also talked about how his contract isn’t exclusive and that he could appear in multiple companies at the same time. He’s already been in IMPACT and it seems his next destination is Ring of Honor.
Stay tuned to Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch all of ROH’s content at Honor Club.
