Control Your Narrative faced saboteurs looking to strike down the company and the genius plans involved, according to promotion co-founder EC3.
Following his release from WWE in 2020 which came after a doomed main-roster run, EC3 would host his own ‘Free the Narrative’ pay-per-views and would speak at length about wanting to control his own narrative. In February 2022, EC3 and Adam ‘Braun Strowman’ Scherr announced Control Your Narrative, a new promotion taking inspiration from the film ‘Fight Club.’
The Sabotage of CYN
The announcement of CYN was met with ridicule by some fans, who poked fun at the overly serious nature of the promotion as well as the idea of talent booking their own storylines. CYN’s ‘rules’ also drew derision from fans, including the ‘rule’ your fight isn’t with your opponent, but with yourself. Speaking on the Insight podcast, EC3 claimed that some of the bad press the promotion received came from acts of sabotage.
“What is a professional wrestler’s number one job? This is an Al Snow question… To get attention, right? It’s about getting attention. And yeah, there’s good attention and there’s bad attention. It [Control Your Narrative] received bad attention but that attention was all based on frivolous lies and people trying to sabotage something before it even started.
“Because, in theory, we did make some strong waves and provided something unique, where once you become a threat in the industry, you are sought to be destroyed before you grow.”
Banning Moves
One of the most derided aspects of CYN’s rulebook was the outlawing of certain moves, including the superkick and the suicide dive. On the podcast, EC3 stuck to his guns and explained why these bans were a smart call.
“It is still the most genius concept I have. Because on the surface, you’re overreacting to something where you don’t understand or haven’t seen the content develop. It’s probably my fault you don’t understand because the content wasn’t readily available. But, I banned the superkick, the suicide dive, and the Canadian destroyer. And the reasons were because those moves are so cool. But they’re so overdone, that they’ve lost their meaning.
“If you watch our CYN show in Dallas. We had this big multi-man match where somebody who does the superkick was out of position. Thought about it, couldn’t do it. Something [like that] happens, their instincts kick in. They hit the superkick. BOOM! Nails somebody, he’s out. That dude [the kicker] gets disqualified.
“So as he’s getting thrown out of the building, another guy comes in, pins him [the wrestler who was kicked] because the kick was so effective, that it left that man devastated. So it [banning moves] wasn’t to hate superkicks, it’s just we’re doing them so much. They have so much value if we do them right.
“Same with the suicide dive… You can do whatever you want. Just don’t go flying through the middle rope. But then the idea of that too, was I had somebody go for it. They missed and they got stretchered out of the building because it was so devastating and they didn’t hit it.
It’s been over a year since CYN held its most recent event. While not confirmed, the future of the promotion looks increasingly bleak, especially considering that Strowman returned to WWE in September 2022.
EC3 is now the NWA’s top star, but there’s been resentment in that promotion…
For the use of quotes, please give an H/T to SE Scoops.