Insight with Chris Van Vliet - EC3 on The Importance of Mental Health, Braun Strowman and How To Free The Narrative

Episode Date: October 20, 2021

Today's guest is EC3. EC3 (real name Michael Hutter) is a professional wrestler and bodybuilder known for his time in WWE, IMPACT Wrestling and Ring of Honor (ROH). He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about his new project "Free The Narrative 2", working with Braun Strowman (Adam Scherr), the book and movies that inspire him, how he felt WWE dropped the ball with the EC3 character, his diet and workout regimen and much more! If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. For more info on Free The Narrative visit: http://freethenarrative.com http://www.YouTube.com/ControlYourNarrative http://join.freeec3.com #ProjectNarrative Workout and Nutrition App For more information about CVV and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blitz! All right, my friends, welcome back to another audio adventure on Insight. I'm Chris Van Fleet. So good to have you back with us. So good to have EC3 back on the show. It's been about a year since we had him on last. And, geez, have you seen him lately?

He is just getting more and more jacked, which I didn't even think was possible. Check him out on social media. He's at the real EC3 on both Twitter and Instagram. And if you don't follow me, I'm at Chris Van Vleet. Obviously not nearly as jacked as EC3, though. But he's been making magic with Free the Narrative and now Free the Narrative 2, which we talk about during this conversation. He's made basically films, films that will last forever,

and films that transcend the world of wrestling. But beyond all of that, This is really a conversation about mental health, self-awareness, and striving to become the best version of yourself. Hey, if it's your first time here, by the way, take a second to subscribe to the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening right now. And shout out to our fan of the week, I'm Annie 1977. He says, quite literally changed my life. This podcast made me take a chance, made me take a chance on myself. I always tuned into the interviews on YouTube and then I listened to the audio podcast here.

While they're very insightful and fantastic, it was his motivation about vague goals, get vague results episode that made me put my goals out into the universe. My goals were to one day work for a major toy company with my action figure photography. I felt fired up and I made a Twitter post tagging all of the major companies. Since then, I've had many opportunities that I never would have had if I didn't take a chance. man, for that, I am beyond grateful for what you do. I'll be a massive supporter of yours for life.

Oh, that is incredible. I'm Manny 1977. Congrats, my friend. Congrats on getting after it and making it happen. And congrats for making these opportunities for yourself. Because nobody else is just going to create these opportunities for you. You've got to go out and make these opportunities happen yourself. So, congrats to you.

and I'm excited to see what's next for you. And by the way, I read a review on every single episode. So if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, it would be amazing if you left just a few words on there for your chance to get shouted out here on the show. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, EC3. All right, man, free the narrative too. It's out. It's out right now.

And it's so good to see you again. It's always great to see you. last time we talked, I was in a hole. I lived in this house, but I called it my little layer. And it was on an iPad. There was no technology. I had this psycho boy shirt on. I kind of looked like I've been through hell.

And that's because I just got out of the hospital. And then we started talking. So I was like fish white, still jacked, but like puffy from all the anesthesia and the fluas they were pumping in me. But I'm feeling great now. I'm looking even better. Happy to be here with you, my handsome cohort in the YouTube slash entertainment world. Funny story is I play podcast when I go to sleep.

Yeah. You're one of my, you know, of course. Wow. My podcast puts you to sleep. I'm honored. No. It wakes me up because I hear you. And I always like, it's like a fever dream.

I hear your illustrious voice. And I'm coming to at 3 a.m. with like half hard pee got to go to. But then there's your voice. Like, at least three days a week. Wow. Well, thank you. Jeez.

And this is for everybody else out there. If EC3 listens to every episode, then you should also listen to every episode. I feel subconsciously I get so much more of it while I slumber, too. That's when your brain's really adapting to it. Oh, I like where we're going with this. I like this. When I talked to you last time, you had, you were in the middle of COVID, basically. You had just basically admitted to everybody.

Yeah, I have COVID, but this was before you were in the hospital. Yes, I'm sorry. I had COVID at the time. Yeah. And now I have the antibody. because I had COVID. Yeah. Well, let's walk through.

What happened after that? You went to the hospital not long after that. I did go to the hospital un-COVID related. I guess it was maybe a couple months, but I had a infection on my arm. Cellulitis, I would say it was. So it ballooned up and then I, you know, I just thought I'll rub some dirt on it. And I let it lie there and then just keep getting bigger and bigger until one day I had elephantitis like my arm was completely swollen. I'm like,

ow, maybe I should go to the hospital. Let's be honest, your arms are already swollen, right? All the time. I thought, but they didn't bend. I was like, man, if I could swell up elsewhere like I'm swollen up here, I'd be irresistible. But alas, it's a dick joke, but alas, it's my arm and they might have to amputate it. So, I don't know if we could see, but they drained it out. And I spent a week in the hospital.

I put out a message. Like, if you really care about me, I appreciate your support. I honestly love it. Thank you so much. But leave me alone. Yeah. Because I was going through a lot. I was super stressed.

So it was the first time I got to sleep at a while. That was nice about the hospital. And I didn't look at my device, like the blue light, it purified me. And here we are. Are you serious that you might have actually had your arm amputated? I'm not serious, but I'm not sure. it wasn't that close. Like I looked at it.

I'm like, holy shit. If I lose my arm, like, that sucks. Yeah. Because I wouldn't be able to work out. That's the only release I have. Well, that's not true. You would find a way. And there's plenty of jacked people with one arm.

True. I would find a way, but I'd always feel insignificant. Like, I'm very anally symmetrical. Everything has to be like by sets. Like, if I do an odd number of reps, I like have a panic attack or, you know, odd number of sets. or if I'm doing legs and I did, oh, fine. I think that was 65% quads and 35% hamstrings.

It's got to be even like symmetry, symmetry, man, balance. Yin and yang, you know, polarities, much like Free the Narrative One. When I was fighting Matt Cardona, we were very different, very similar polarities. Everything, universe, energy, pretend I know what I'm talking about, and you will understand. I know. If we smile and nod, we completely understand what you're talking about here. If I sound confident in my words, even though I'm completely making it up as I go along, people will be like, this guy's may be pretty smart, even though I'm saying gibberish.

Look, if anybody's seen control the narrative or control the narrative too, they will see that you are very smart. And what you've created here is, I don't know, it transcends wrestling. It has wrestling in it, but it transcends wrestling. Before we started, you said something that was pretty significant, and I loved it. That's why I was like, we can't talk anymore. We got to just say it. And what she said was, you created something that will last forever.

Yeah. And I think that was the purpose of control your narrative when I started it coming out of WWE and the pandemic recreating myself as a character, but also as a man, one of the main things I wanted to drive home was people, control your narrative, tell your story, but create something that will last, create something that will last forever, was the idea. And free the narrative as a feature. I know it like I'm tough at branding. Control your narrative is the movement.

Free the narrative is the feature. And we did two features now. The first one featuring myself, Bruce McArdona, available on our YouTube now at YouTube.com slash control your narrative. And also Braun-Strauman, aka Adam Shear,

aka the Titan, his very first non-WB match was actually a fight with me in a dimly lit, disgusting, filthy bar. And we put it out to the world. and told a great story, I think. Very proud of it.

I'm very proud of Adam for it. That match is available right now on your YouTube channel, which I'll link below. And then the full free-year narrative, too, will be available on Friday. So that's tomorrow as you're listening to this right now, but it could be out right now if you're listening to this sometime in the future.

You inspired us because we're trying to figure out how to distribute this content because we created something so different, and there's so much wrestling available. Everything is available. we talked about 20, 30 hours a week of wrestling content, but we created something unique, getting it to people,

what's the best way? And we're seeking streaming platforms and taking this beyond wrestling. I want to get out of the wrestling bubble, but at the same time, we are based in wrestling, though I try to be far more reality-based. Like, what's the best forum? And I'm like, well,

brothers got like, you got the million subscribers in or 300,000? I don't know, what's that number of your 300 away from? Yeah, that 300,000 subscribers. I am leaching off them because now we have committed to YouTube as a platform to distribute content where we just left it idly sit there. So follow, like, subscribe, control your narrative on YouTube.

Link below. There it is. Anybody who's watching this right now that hasn't subscribed at EC3, go and do it right now. I wish we could take all 300,000 and bring them over to you. Come on over. The water's warm. And over here, you take back control. You fight for freedom.

and you find your purpose. But also we do have the CYN weekly podcast. So after if you listen to this on Apple Podcasts or Spotify podcast, you can sing over to control your narrative weekly. Like and subscribe to that. And I can put you to sleep much like we put it in a sleep. I interviewed Sylvester Stallone like two years ago. My dad.

I have a story to tell if you're going on. I can't wait to hear this story. But he said something during this interview that I'll never forget. He said that when you do something in a. film, you need to be aware when you're filming it that it lasts forever. You need to be aware that when you're filming this, people will go back and watch this a year from now, five years from now, 10, 20, 30, it'll live on forever. And it's interesting that in the world of wrestling, a lot of matches, especially in weekly television, kind of come and go. And that's no disrespect to those matches,

but there's so much out there that a lot of matches come and go. And that's why I said to you, what you're creating here is a film. And it's something that people can go back and watch a year or two or ten from now and appreciate the art form that that is. Well, thank you very much. What I love about that is, I know in this realm and this wrestling fan, cinematic wrestling should have a bad stigmata to it because what was done with it was kind of like, it jumped sharp, totally. So it feels weird saying, hey, we're cinematic wrestling because when you think of that,

you think of, I don't know, like special powers and people morphing into different things. It's kind of hokey comedy. It's kind of bullshit. It's like kind of exposes the business. But what we wanted to do was shoot wrestling cinematically. So it's very imperative for me to keep the wrestling as reality base. And people that come into the narrative are themselves. Their real life personas turned up a little bit.

But finding their purpose. I mean, that's what happened with Adam. He truly had an emotional release fighting in the narrative. And we captured on film because he was going through a bunch of things. stuff in his life that all came to have had. And you could see it in the initial part when he was in the ring with me. He told you exactly what he went through. And it was a powerful moment.

So the thing about Stallone, he's a genius. But you don't think so because, you know, he's got his drawl and he made man movies and stuff like that. But like, you listen to interviews with him. You've interviewed him. He wrote Rocky. Yeah. He put everything on the line.

He sold his dog to get Rocky. he made. I love that story. Also, there was this, I can't remember what the exact number was, but we're talking in the early 70s or mid-70s, and there was an offer to buy Rocky, but the caveat was that someone else was going to star in it. And he said, no. And he said, I'm making this movie, and I'm going to be the one who stars it. And they said, all right, well, like, good luck. And eventually he did end up finding someone who would buy the script and have him in it. Then it goes on, the rest of his history, wins best picture and everything else. But it's so cool. crazy, the amount of just blind faith that he has in himself.

How necessary is that to truly, as I say in the narrative, become who you're supposed to be. Yeah. I don't take the shot. Because, man, if you don't, you're going to wake up one day. You're going to be on your deathbed. And you're going to be thinking about the what ifs and not the what I did. You know, I don't want that. We all have regrets.

Yeah. Look, a study out of Cornell University. surveyed people that were in their final days and they said what was the biggest regret of your life and 76% of people said not living their ideal self so three quarters of people on their deathbed said that their biggest regret was the things they didn't do rather than the things that they did do and they regret it i'm going to try to find this text message i sent a bait about uh i hope it'll hold you too long get over here i'm so excited to see what this is well this is just something that I thought of and I know she was in a slump

and then I sent it over to her blah. If this is taking too long, we could fill the time. Oh, no. Everyone's just looking at your handsome face right now. This is great. Looking down. All right, sunset. Funny gifts. Conspiracy theory. Oh, here's a funny one.

Some dude talked shit to me on Twitter and I screen capped his bio in his picture. And I'm like, I know everything about this guy. just by looking at this picture. His life, his life sucks. Oh my God. And who did you send this to? A babe.

I don't want to be all wrong. I'm saying. Anyways, real fast. Okay, so I'm at a clear water beach and we're out with friends. And this vacationer comes up to me and goes, oh, my God. Are you Sylvester's still alone, son? Wow. And I, because I had the curly hair at the time.

too and I said yeah I'm Jim Jim Stallone and I shook her hand and so she takes a picture with me and she's like oh my god that's so master Stallone son she's talking about to leave she comes up to me she goes can I get an autograph I said absolutely so I sign her an autograph and said don't be alone keep it stillone sincerely Jim Stallone Okay, here it is. Okay, we found it. Close your eyes. Visualize.

You're on your last days. Your time is up. Everything you've wanted to do or left unfinished, you can't. There's a regret and sadness. You feel unaccomplished. Now open your eyes. Well, if you're reading this, they are open. Your whole life is ahead of you.

Go do it. Oh, chills. That's so good. I heard something recently on a podcast that was like, picture yourself at the end of your life. You're in front of God, your creator, the universe, whatever you believe in, right? And they say, what do you think of your life? And you go, yeah, it was pretty good. I was a good parent.

I was a good son, daughter, whatever. You know, I improved other people's lives. And then they take out like an iPad or something. They go, cool. Well, I'm going to show you what your life. life could have been if you really went for it. And then they hit play and you go, oh, crap. Oh, wow.

And that one, like, hit me so hard. That, I feel like that was an awakening I had when this, even this whole control and everything started because it was very personal to me. But I was going through a lot at the time and it was with WW, and I had concussion issues and I'm unhappy and a place on the card and there's no opportunity. Now there's no way out. Now there's a pandemic starting. The world's changing.

I don't know what's going on. And I get released. I'm doing yoga and I get released. And I had nothing but the feeling of like openness. Like I was like the greatest weight ever lifted off me that I can do this or I can be who I want to be now. Because of it and like the first time I got fired, it was like, I will show you motherfuckers. I will come back to you with fire and vengeance and brimstone. I will bring pain and hell upon you.

I will get so popular. You will bet me to come back. And I didn't. And it happened. I don't know if I worked out like shit, but whatever. But yeah. And then what you've just said kind of reminds me of like the talk I had to have with myself. Like I, if a year and a half ago was up there, how was your life?

Well, you know, I did some pretty cool stuff. You know, I had a bad haircut once, but I had to live my dream. I made great friends. I tried to take care of my family. Yeah. Here's where your life could have been. And they play that iPad. Yeah.

Like now that's the life I'm trying to live. Yeah. I don't enough. We all have times where I don't know, like we can do more. You can always do more. Yeah, always. I try to do that now. And what I love about you, as far as a human being and an interviewer, interviewer

is the positivity and the messages you spread when you talk to people. When you talk to people from all walks of lives and different, you know, entertainment, really get deep into their brains. So what I think too, with wrestling, like wrestling stays in a little bubble of the fans and the talent sometimes, but you bring something different with different people all the time and there's life outside of it. And, you know, not to put myself over, but free the narrative is like, what else is out there with wrestling tied in? But like you being able to speak to other people and bring them into, I think, an audience that's sheltered itself through this one thing is awesome. Well, thank you for saying that. I just think that there's a lot of times when wrestlers aren't thinking beyond the present moment. I look, and I think it's so important to be present, but you can only wrestle into your what, 40s, maybe 50s. And I'm not saying you can't wrestle

in your 60s. Sure, it's possible, but you probably can't wrestle with the same intensity that you did in your 20s and 30s. And I think a lot of people don't think about what's beyond that. It's a big identity crisis for them when they have to face that reality. very true yes i don't know how to add to that you're absolutely right thinking outside of it i guess too even while you're inside of it what i'm trying to do now though is take from the outside world and imply it into social media and wrestling that nature and i think when you're locked in a bubble as a talent

and as a fan you're only thinking inside this bubble like we're we're programmed a big thing i want to do is break the programming and just have people think differently. They don't have to like it. They don't have to hate it, but they just, by opening their eyes to different things, maybe they find new passions, new loves where the wrestling love is still there, but outside of that, I found this great book. And now I'm reading, you know, a book every month, or I found this great musical score

because this song inspired me to listen to a different genre. Yeah. And I don't know, having the ability to converse with humans again, and maybe they go on dates and it's cool too and they meet a nice girl and they get married. Yeah. Something like that. What are we talking about?

But maybe through this process for you with control your narrative or for the narrative, maybe I feel like you found this love for filmmaking because you're like you're great on camera and what you've built here isn't just some like hokey film. This is like a very well done film. I have a lot of great support, especially the narrator of it.

JC, he's my partner and all of this. and like very creative, very vision-oriented, where how can we make this work within the reality we're trying to create? So we spent a long time discussing this as a thing, producing as a thing. You saw improvements from one to two. This is very much of bare bones operation as far as there is no, there's no corporate backing.

There's no funding. This comes out of our pockets. Hopefully it makes money, but that's not the big thing. The big thing is creating something that will last. So it's very hands-on for us and it's like our, I don't know, it's our purpose in a way. When he was editing the second one, he had to teach himself how to edit on the fly too, because we've never done any of this.

We have one under our belt. But when he's editing it, he's putting it together and we're spending hours and we're losing our minds or we're writing the narration to tell the stories of these talent, they were so cool to give us their time, their trust and their effort. But he's like, this is my life's work. I was like, ooh, better be fucking good. Do you have any aspirations to make a short film or like,

has that stirred that up in you? I guess in a sense, I don't, we're very, we have no formal training in that aspect. So it's just, well, most filmmakers don't. Right. And it doesn't seem hard. All right. Three acts.

Cool dialogue. You know, interesting people, stories tell. Maybe not because, I'm that itch. If I had it's being scratched as we expand and what we do. But perhaps I would also wouldn't mind being in them so I can learn the process and how other people direct and produce and things of that nature. But what's the word?

It starts with an S syncretes, synchroquities. It's like coincidence. How do I pronounce it? Do you know what I'm saying? I think I know it. The world's information. Yeah, it's all lives in our pocket. I read,

Serendipity? That is close, but not what I'm Synchronosities. Syncronosity, yes. Simultaneous occurrence of events, which appears significantly related, but have no discernible casual connection. But what I noticed about putting this project together

in the whole control of narrative to free the narrative is the amount of people in my life that have departed and have showed up. And it's it seems coincidental, but it can't be. It has to be for a reason and for a better purpose. Like one of the, this editor we use, Eric Knoll, we call him the executioner. He wears a patch on his eye. We call him patch too.

I don't know which nickname's better executioner or patch. It's up for him to decide, but he's a 20, 21 year old kid. I met him at a barbershop. He was shooting my barber and asked me to do an interview. He was a secret wrestling fan. I did the interview with him and I'm like, you're pretty good with the camera kid. What are you doing Wednesday?

Nothing. All right, can you meet me at this location? I need you to film something. And it's when I had Matt Cardone and myself at a diner. So we threw him right into the fire because we needed somebody. He was vouched for by my barber who's like super great spiritual dude. He's vouched for the kid has such an interesting story of overcoming childhood cancer and things of that nature.

but then we put him in that position, we throw him in the fire, and now he's working for us and helped us greatly on these things. All those people that have come into life from Adam, the day before Adam was released from WWE, he was in the shop

narrator and I talking about, I haven't watched wrestling and it's completion, but when I watched Free the Narrative One, that was the first time, I couldn't stop thinking. I couldn't sleep. I was just thinking about

what could be done with wrestling and how it can evolve and be something else and stuff of that nature. And we started talking, yeah, man, if we ever had you in the narrative, we do this,

this and this. And we're like, we can't even talk about that now because, you know, what's the point? The next day, he's released.

You know what I mean? Yeah. It's just like, well, I guess it's on. And we're like, oh shit, we got to do that again.

We're just coming off the first one. It was a stressful, hospital-inducing thing, but he needed it. He needed, men needed, men need a place. I don't know, to be able to be emotional to let go of things.

And he had a lot of personal demons and personal problems that he had to let go. And in his process coming into filming this, what you see in Free the Narrative 2 is a legitimate expelling of his bad spirits and accepting his new purpose in life. Like it was it was fucking wild dude. It was transcendent. We filmed it too. I don't know if you're familiar with the Lionsgate in astrology. I wasn't someone told me that day and I'm like,

holy shit, that's the day we filmed the narrative. But like it's just him opening up and it was like male therapy and now like mental health is something that's very important to him because he's going through it as we all do. And now it's becoming important to me and this is kind of where the movement I think is going. it's going to be cool ass, badass, badass, dudes and women, because we have Marina Schaferner now, but like,

it's going to be aesthetically cool. It's going to be David Fincher had a wrestling baby with Trent Resner, so it's going to be music. The music's produced in house. The visuals are cool, but it's going to be, you know, the fight club-esque.

But, like, becoming who you're supposed to be, controlling your narrative is a mental health thing. And I think that's where we're falling into. And everybody's, come through the process, it almost seems like therapy. And it only happened because I did this to myself. So now is my great purpose helping others by filming them fight and look cool as shit,

and the music behind it. I don't know, you know. When you look back at the last year plus since being released from WWE, what are you most proud of during this time? I am most proud of this feature for you, The Narrative 2. there's a very few moments I could think of in life where I just I can accept this was significant and felt great and I can breathe and like feeling because usually it's like okay to go great what's next I mean yeah this wired like a psycho boy but I remember we put this together

on short notice all the people that came and helped out and came under the roof and like donated their time you know money and sense at times, whatever, just their effort and their vision. Most importantly, their trust in me. We film it. I do the thing with Adam. We have this transcendent experience where the man's literally became a new human being. What's going on?

Life is insane. How is this happening? Other people are breaking down all over the place. It's like an exorcism of just the past releasing out of this didn't. dingy shit hole in Orlando with a crappy wrestling ring in it. And we're after a couple people were having some drinks, you know, make sure everyone's taken care of. And I'm like, I just take a look at it.

Everything has created, all these people interacting that maybe never would have met themselves or each other having in-depth conversations, new people meeting new people, and just like happiness, enlightenment, whatever. And I take a look at the room and I'm like, huh. And I just walk out the door and I walk back to the hotel. I'm seeing it. And I'm like, that was the most proud of anything I've ever done. Short of maybe beating Kurt Angle for a world title, which is so, but that was,

I left like, I haven't had a moment since that moment, which I covered in a promo once. I think that was for impact. But yeah, I didn't have a moment like that one in 2015 like I didn't. this that moment i just how does this want to make you approach matches now like when we're talking about actual wrestling now storytelling i think you can find a story in anything within wrestling and i think we're getting away from circumstantial storytelling in lieu of cool moves so even if you only have a four minute or a five minute, there's stories to be told, as opposed to going to hit a bunch of moves in record time that people forget about immediately.

It's not always easy to find the story or delve into it. And what sucks, which inspired this whole movement, Katrior narrative, free the narrative, is through corporate wrestling. We call them the three-letter brands. In theory, I just realize I'm EC3 and on my own three-letter brands. I know, it's only two letters and one number. two three character brand total hypocrite i'm full of shit

uh but no matter how much creative freedom you may have in a company at the end of the day is still not yours and that's okay because that's the business and you're paid to do your job and perform for your people in charge you that's fine

but creating this gives talent as much creative freedom as they want to tell their soul So as far as approaching matches, I think telling stories has become significant in lieu of cool moves and stars and things of that nature. And I could tell the difference when I'm inspired by the story if I'm not working within the narrative, but like, like, the ring of honor. Like if I'm not invested in the story, I don't, everything hurts. Yeah. Yeah.

And this doesn't feel right. You know, why are we even doing this? Because this has to, this has to happen. but then when I'm able to all right what's the story here and I think there's this match I had with Jay Lethal and Rangab on her TV that I was really able to delve into a story based on

well this is happening with him and this is kind of happened with me what could we do together beyond like you're your cool shit and he's totally on board and then collabing with a guy of that talent and telling a story pushing his story along while pushing mine

at the same time and it working well, even if we're wrestling in front of new people. It translates on television. So I think that is one thing I look for in wrestling matches now when I'm putting together and not getting hit in the head anymore. That sucks. Do you have any intention of signing somewhere full-time? I am full-time with Ring of Honor. They just allow me to create on the side.

Which is incredible. Like you can basically pop up in a other. other places. In theory, perhaps, you know, I really like that flex. I like bending the ideas of what we think this is too. And a lot of feedback you get from fans is based on the things they've already seen when I'm trying to do something new. So it's like, oh, yeah, all the narrative guys could be a faction. I'm like, yeah, but a faction's been done. So it's like, hey, it's kind of like when Ravens flock invaded WCW. I'm like, yeah, except for the fact they're all under contract to WCW. And I have people in every different realm of this world. I love the idea of the control of your narrative spreading because Marina Schaffner said this after we shot her interview that's on her podcast channel. And we shot her awesome vignette.

Kudos to the narrator for creating that piece of art based on her vision. She's like, this idea, it's bigger than me. It's bigger than you. This could be the next thing. And I'm like, well, I sure hope so. Because it isn't about me anymore. I can take a back seat now and allow people to create and be very happy with having an alternative platform for creative people to be creative. Throw shit against a wall.

See what sticks. Yeah. And I think that's something talent is restricted to when they have to do their job, which you have to do the job. Because that's the job and that's okay. but I don't know our imitating life appeals to me greatly did the idea of seeing these

cinematic matches during the I'll call it the COVID era did that inspire you to do this or did you already have the idea for it? No because I was already after the dream team of the broken Matt Hardy and Jeremy Boras

at impact went so far out creating something unique and it was funny you know it's comedic and there's a Lake of Reincarnation and there's a chair on wheels. It's awesome. It's hilarious. Lower of lawns. Lower of lawns.

Brilliant. And then I think when AEW did the Stampede show, where it was very fun and everything's fun, I'm like, it wasn't to create cinematic matches. What inspired me was the fight from Creed, the one-shot camera angle, where they follow him. That entire round, yeah.

Yeah, the entire round. And also shooting wrestling differently, seeing a ring inside the camera, capturing the intensity and emotions of what we do. Sometimes with hard cam, you know, like things are lost in translation or all the quick cuts TV wrestling likes to do. Like just being in the moment and bringing intimate viewing to the fans. But at the same time, I was coming off of getting fired. I had 90 days.

I was creating this new character with no platform but my own socials. I needed something to finish it. I'm like, no matter what company I go to, I'm immediately giving what I've created to them. So I don't know if it'll be fully recognized what I want to be. I at least want my debut match where I establish my new self to be how I envision it. And that's what inspired the shoot. Because we had a clock on my website and there was like,

what's going to happen to this clock if there's no word to sign? like, oh, it's like, shoot a match. I'm like, all right. Is that going to take us on a wild journey? I never expected. It did. Yeah. But shooting that match, it's on her YouTube.

So I don't know. Don't worry. Everybody subscribe to your YouTube channel. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, it was July of 2020. Yeah. I was in impact the next day. But I just wanted, because I know how important to debut is.

to establishing somebody. And being a TV personality already, if I went to another company, I'm immediately thrown in maybe my first match as a competitive match against somebody as a high name. So I can't establish what I'm going to do. So when I do that to the guy who's already established,

he can kick out and it doesn't look like my shit doesn't work. So simplicity was always big to me. And that's another thing about wrestling matches today is when we talked about stories important, simplicity and establishing things. So they mean more, maybe not in that moment, but a month down the road or six months down the road or a year down the road.

I want to key in on something you said there. You said that you make it look different. And for better or for worse, television wrestling has pretty much looked the same for, I don't know, 50, 60 years. And it's interesting that when TNA put a six-sided ring there, if you were flicking channels, you went, oh, that's, That's different.

And then Lucha Underground did something different too when you were flicking challenges. Oh, this is, is this, this is so different. And that's exactly what you're doing here. Correct. Yeah. And I didn't have that vision short of the one shot thing. So as we expanded, that was a J.C., the narrator's idea.

Like we got to make it look differently. But at the same time, we had one professional cinematographer. We had him learning how to use a camera. The first narrative shot, we had. who's who was the other cameraman in the first narrative oh huntley yeah okay we had the guy again synchronocrinocities a kid i met outside of publics who was like an EC3 fan he met me outside of Publix he's like hey man I'm a cameraman this is a different story oh okay cool gives me his card one day I'm like shit I need a cameraman hit him up he comes in films to be

doing something stupid next thing you know he's working with us on the narrative next thing you know he's hired by NXT. Isn't that cool? And I'm really happy for it. I call my son, even though it's 34. But he's my son. So he's on the floor. And then we had a dude, I think, was drunk, working the hard camps.

We missed every shot. So but just having that different look. And then as we went into the second one, how can we make this look even more different? And again, we had one professional cinematographer. We have JC who's using a camera for the fifth time in his life. we have one super smart mark friend we had from back home sweating bullets missing shots ed thanks and then uh yeah the kid on a hard cam upstairs so we wanted the look to be different because we missed a lot in the first one we still missed a lot in the second one so what's going

to make it different for the third what's going to make sure we don't miss things and make it different for the third so yes difference good yeah flip through channels after that long-winded I can rat race I put you on. Yes, I agree, Chris. You know, you talk about this journey that Adam went on with this. And I'm not trying to like dig for any sort of scoop here or ask you like, oh, where is he, where is he going to sign? But what do you think is next for him after he's had this therapeutic moment, as you

explained? I think you think about a guy like that, he was signed and putting the system. So he's known nothing but the system of wrestling that he's been accustomed to until one day he shows up in a dimly litch, a whole bar in downtown Orlando, with a bunch of neglected and refuse, you know, for a wrestling scum. Not scum, because the scum comes in all forms. You're the 1%. Come on. No, the 1% died, man.

I threw it in trash can fire. But Adam's seeing, I mean, seeing the difference in, okay, there's no catering. There's not a locker room. Like he knows that going into it. But him experiencing something different, I think he's going to open his eyes to what else is out there? How else does this work? Yeah. What's fortunate for him, like he had a great run.

He has great name value. And he's still a great talent. So he really could have picked anywhere to go and came out and got a huge reaction. and trended. And then in a month, you know, he comes out, kicks everybody's ass. And then in a month, it's just like, all right, we got this guy and like, what's next? You know how fans could get sometimes. Like, what's a novelty wears off?

What's going to keep him? But his ability to be able to recreate what he wants to be within the narrative, which is another purpose for him, like it was for me filming my match, like, this is who I want to be now. If I go to a company right away, I'm still get these hands, monster among men. If I completely destroy who I am and recreate myself in another vision, this is what I can take to you now. And, you know, as a creator and a professional, it's just nice to, I don't know, you play the same song for so long. Yeah.

Finally, you want to put the new shit out and people actually like it too. They're given a chance. Sometimes, you know, they don't like the new stuff. So that, and I know outside interests, he has a great deal on whether it's pursuing some act. fitness industry, supplementation things. And then I think what's really big and near and dear to him is his mental health purpose and what he's going to do on that front. So he's got a lot of cool things coming down the pipe in the outside the wrestling bubble,

which I think mental health is the biggest thing because that's what he personally experienced. As far as wrestling, who's to say? there's a dirt. But I think when people like Adam and you speak so openly about mental health, I think it makes a lot of people who are struggling themselves go, oh my gosh, if those guys are going through it, it makes it feel okay.

If they can talk about it, I can talk about it. Yeah. And I think the tag me in movement, which I had a couple videos with them and is doing a great job. And it's obviously to plague on societies, not just our industry. So everybody goes,

soon it's okay to talk about it and i don't know being able to discuss things and having someone to listen is really all we really need for the most part you know what i mean yeah with that said i mean you mentioned at the start of the podcast that my or my podcast puts you to sleep but are you are you able to sleep better these days i have a tough time because i'm so excited to tackle the day I slept so bad yesterday because I did legs yesterday. I'm on my feet all day, control narratives. We're running justified prints or nefarious side operation for...

That's where we are right now. Yes, I got a print shop going behind me. If you need a t-shirts made, hit up justifiedprince.com or at justified underscore prints on Instagram, and we'll make your shirts real nice. But yeah, I did legs yesterday. There was a weird thing with the moons in alignment. he was coming off the full moon.

I don't know. Some astrology, babe, a different one. Sent me a thing about that. She's cool, too. I had this leg workout and it didn't feel great, but I did a lot of volume. And then through the day, I just feel weird. I had six rolls of sushi and four cookies last night because it was a refeed day. Just slept like shit.

Those cookies looked incredible, by the way. Yeah. I don't know what happened to the Instagram. I tag him once and went away. I tried to click on and I couldn't actually see it. It's like I disabled his account. Are those, are those quote unquote healthy?

Oh, God, no. Oh, okay. Full of sugar. Yeah, but I met him at the Olympia and like there's another synchrosity. Synchronosity. Synchronosity. He was a 500 pound guy and now he's like 180s trying to bodybuild. Like he was telling me his amazing story and I'm like, and you make cookies and they're not healthy.

I'm in. But I just meeting all these people with all these incredible stories because of just control your narrative being said out loud, verbalized between my friend and I has made all this happen. It's fucking wild to think about. Well, I think what's surprised a lot of people is when you first started control your narrative, I think people thought that this was your new gimmick and this was a new storyline. This has become like a lifestyle for you, really.

Yeah, because it was in an idea, gimmick and a character arch, but what helped me so much with my issues was telling my story by myself through promos, through wrestling. So every promo I released on social media and some gave 50,000 views, some get 3,000. It's not about who's watching as much as I was able to express myself and therapeutically come to turn. with everything and do it in cool ways that are well written like I didn't get to speak in wb for whatever quite literally yeah quite literally so the whole initial thing is like i'm going to write and create better promos than you're going to see on monday till i'm you know do something with them so it's just the writing process help me yeah talking about myself help me but creating and making it art and yeah, I'm pushing a character, but at the same time I'm pushing myself,

the best wrestling characters are always extensions of someone's real life personality too. So while top 1% EC3 was definitely my brash cocky, I have 17 astrology babes on the side kind of dude. 17, wow, give or take. At the same time, there's a Sigma reclusive, like driven silent killer, but also like redemption seeker, anti-hero in a sense. Maybe someone described that. Maybe it's not.

But there's another side of me that also likes to write crazy, long-winded things that maybe nobody reads and then recite them eloquently, hopefully. So, but yeah, another thing about the narrative, you get to become who you're supposed to be. So when I bring somebody in or they knock on my door, yeah, we vetting. them, we sit them down here and they tell us about themselves. And it's not like, what do you think your character is? It's like, who are you? Yeah.

Maybe I can help you get there and whether it's successful as a wrestling company or a streaming television show or whatever it is, the fact people I respect in this industry have come to us to express themselves in a different way. It's very fulfilling. Yeah. What are you reading these days? I am just started reading the way of the superior man. I don't know who the author is.

But there was two great captions of the chapters today. I saw that. I'm going to see who writes this book so everybody can look this up. It's 20 years old. It seems like it's some sort of like, I don't know, probably get canceled because it was 20 years ago. There's probably some inappropriate content. It is by David Dita.

Yeah. Never change your mind just to please a woman. But then I put, and a man, because i think that is for anybody don't change your mind just to please somebody else right the second one second one was a message to somebody your purpose must come before your relationship oh oh it just looked off camera it was a joke but yeah and then what did i just finish of Jordan Peterson's book I just finished that so I jumped into the superior man

and then before that I read the five swords and then whether we believe in faith or whatever sometimes I pick up the Bible now and I look through it and there's some good stuff in here especially in Revelations I really base a lot of my want to destroy the entire wrestling industry have it crumble in my feet based on Revelations

material so when you i mean i know you're so inspired by other films and we talked a lot last time about american psycho and you showed me the the print in your bedroom yeah what do you think it's like the go-to monologue or or character that just delivers a great monologue in our little shit free the narrative scenes and inspired me kind of parley into uh the conversations I have like whoever's featured because myself and Matt

and then myself and Adam that was like Matt and I we kind of was like we both liked heat and I remember De Niro and Pacino together I guess they wrote the movie and they had no scenes together and the crazy thing about that scene is they're never on camera together at the same time

it's just so it's just solo shots of them there's not a one wide shot No. Holy shit. And people thought that they weren't actually in the scene together. And my friend actually asked them. He said, I want to clear this up. Were you guys ever in the scene? Yeah, of course we were.

They just wanted to keep the intensity of the scene. So they kept it on close-ups the whole time. Was it very ad-libbed or was it very scripted? That I do not know. I don't either. I just feel like those two are probably like putting their fucking. Those guys could read the phone book and it would be incredible. Oh, especially in the 90s, too.

Yeah. And the one of Adam was sort of like confessional base, but we couldn't get into a church. So it wound up being a dive bar. Big Daddy's in Orlando, shout out. But that scene was inspired by me if it went off how I wanted like Road to Perdition. Oh, wow. Yeah. Tom Hanks.

Yeah. Hanks is behind Paul Newman. And then like he kind of gives him the look. I would have said everything to Adam that I said to do him at the bar and said it became a bar. It's so cool. One I want to do. And this might be the go-to performance. is Daniel Day Lewis and there will be blood.

Oh my gosh. Confessing when the preacher makes him confess. I will not backslide. I will not do a backslide. This is a finish, but no. And how good is Daniel Day Lewis? He's incredible. The best ever.

No. Yeah, sure, I'll make a movie this in seven years. What else is he doing? What else is he's just living life? Yeah, it's amazing. He doesn't have to. What's his best performance, though? I mean, my left foot.

Holy shit. What is his best performance? Lincoln? Dude, if you don't want to fight for Abraham Lincoln played by Daniel Day Lewis, what he's telling, given those soldiers that like just a little story or he's around the, you know, the whatever machine and they're getting the results, the best. battle and he just sits down and starts telling a story and his secretary of defense is like oh god not one of these again and then ah man it's good and then obviously gings in new york obviously the most alpha awesome dude ever created so yeah yeah i just want you Daniel day louis's body of work is what

i want to recreate in a shitty wrestling directed by david fincher yeah yeah yeah Did you ever pitch any of the cinematic stuff or these ideas when you were in WWA? I pitched the whole character that this started as. And on the, yeah, I pitched the whole character that started as verbally written. And then I filmed the promo, the promo I released the day I was fired on the day I was fired because I filmed that promo and sent it to him on the day I was fired. So that was just like, well, I just cut this great promo.

And this is what I want to be. I shade my head. I'm putting it out there. It was only overshadowed by stupid Drake Maverick in his crocodile tears. So I, yeah, because I'm like, I didn't want, no matter what happened, I didn't want people to think I didn't try. And there was a time I didn't care and I wasn't trying. And I'm like, that's not me, man. Yeah.

Remember the fuck you are. Like, I'd rather go down swing than just be shot, you know? Yeah. Rather die in your feet than live on your knees, whatever. So, yes, that was pitched. It was pitched along with sort of an underground fight club essence to it. And then I released 90 days later, my debut match. It took place in a dimly lit underground-looking garage.

It became, it looks like they're just starting a fight club in here. Obviously, it's super fight club inspired. And then a week later, raw underground started. So I guess they found my pitch in the trash. Is there a day you can go back to in WWE where you feel like they specifically drop the ball? With me or in general? With me?

I mean, did they drop the ball or did I just not grab the ball and take it? Maybe a combination of both. And we talked about this last time. It's crazy that you come in as the heavyweight champion from another company, former heavyweight champion. And they can't find something on that level for you. And NXT was fun and well, but I was already established. So nobody there is making me their pet project to get me over because I walk out.

I had a good reaction and name value. Yeah. I wasn't meant to be there forever. Like, and that's cool. And I have a great time there with great people. I learned we've established my love of simplicity and storytelling and wrestling with Terry Taylor. So I'm very happy I was there.

even though I didn't even have to show up. I could just show up the TVs, but I wanted to be a part of it. But specifically dropping ball with me, I think just the first segment where I come out and didn't speak. Just let Ambrose, you know, get it, you know, jam me a little bit. It's fun and whatever. And if I shouldn't be a baby face first. off and he was obviously had such a great run there and then he decided to leave the company and that whole thing. So now they're of course cheering for him and I'm in that situation.

But I think debut had no purpose or point. And I think they called a bunch of people up in a rash decision that it could probably live or die on their own. It did need a bunch. So like we plug them in and they'll be okay. Doesn't matter. So there's no point to any of it. So I guess that would be to drop the ball. on my end dropping the ball is not doing anything to make them give it to me. I tried a few things. One thing I promised myself when I got there is I will never just be everybody that's miserable and be like, it doesn't matter. And I became it.

Definitely became it. That's not me. It's okay. Like everyone else was, but I promised myself I would not let that happen and it did happen. But maybe it happened for a reason. Well, it happened to put you right here right now doing exactly what you're doing. Yeah. Yeah.

Synchern negatives, synchronogities. Well, one of these times you'll say correctly. I'm fairly eloquent with my words and I can't say this one word. No. I think that that is that gimmick from WWE, it's rubbing off on you. Yeah. Handsome mute. And if I could, if I just.

Handsome meat. that Sean Stasiak's gimmick handsome mute how mute yes like I do to your podcast come all but um that sucked I don't no I man the thing too is like after I went through that moment of like I don't care they all doesn't matter there was another re sparking of it well first off I got a terrible concussion yeah because they call me up with the concussion for something whatever like long story short my brain wasn't right and that doesn't help your mental health at all especially if you're miserable so it's going through that but uh there was like all right now i'm not going to take no for an answer i think it was like came back from the concussion i'm like

doesn't fucking matter like whatever whatever comes down that pipe i'm going to run with it and they can fire me if they have to right nothing came not one like oh let him do something backstage real fast like oh it's live tv i'm like yeah i was committed to going all in and then two like what i hate about social media and wrestling and wrestlers so when they complain about their positioning on lines and blah blah blah and they're booking and blah blah like people that like threatened or at the time asking for the release online stuff like that because they wouldn't get it i thought that was weak that was a weak move that's all i don't know about it every day. I'm like, but then I'm like, but now there's a pandemic. I can't do that

because I have guaranteed money and people might not have jobs and my parents might need help and other families. So I have to stay here. Well, you're afraid me. Okay, good. Do you still have goals in the wrestling world? Do you want to be a heavyweight champion somewhere? Yeah, I think I definitely want to be bringing on a heavyweight champion. I want accolades. Though in the narrative, it's not about titles and things like that and their or material possessions i mean in a sense but i could be very happy creating something that will last is the biggest thing telling some of the best stories and it might never happen with the biggest platform but i've created my own and that's very proud of being able to do that and hopefully the recognition not the recognition for my sake but for

everyone's sake that did it with me and the recognition to fans of thinking outside the box i don't care about me i care about the people that trust me and i care about me a little bit i'm a narcissist let's be honest and the astrology babes right yeah i love them so easy to fool with my big vocab yeah synchronocitia synchronosity there's always goals i don't think they'll ever not be a goal do Yes, I'd like to be a heavyweight champion. My goal is to do something, not only create something else, but do something completely different that bends the reality of what we do. And it takes a lot of takes the right team, takes the right people, takes the right big man with name value, takes the right companies. But everything that's been done has been done, let's doing something different.

That's the goal. What are the goals in the gym? Because I don't feel like you can get in any more shape. Like you're talking about being in the top 1%. I feel like your body fat is 1% right now. Well, if you like fitness apps, join.3.com. I have a nutrition and training app. I will say for a hunk like you, you're more advanced.

You need more cementing. But join. That freeec3.com. Hashtag project narrative. Yeah, I sell you my bullshit. It's a. nutrition and diets and workouts created by me for you. And I really gear it more towards beginners and intermediates more so than advanced.

Because for myself, what are my goals in the gym? I did a bodybuilding show. I think that world's insane and weird. But I was like, let's do it. You never know. What's going to happen? I don't know how to pose and I'm so broken down. It was hard.

And I honestly, I was in training for that, filming right into the narrative. So a week before I was on a bodybuilding stage, I'm having, like a six foot eight guy, throw me against the wall and joke slammed the shit out of me, throw me outside or, like beat the ever-living hell out of me. And I'm all dieted and water drained and like, I'm like, oh, my God, everything hurts so bad. I would do it again because I actually had more fun than I thought because I was mad after I was like, ah, I don't care, whatever. I'm like, wait, I should have won. I was the leanest guy there. I don't know how to pose. All right, now I have to win.

And because bodybuilders are such a weird breed where what do they do all day? They sit around. They'll work out. They'll eat. They'll play video games. And then like, I don't know, smoke weed probably. Like, it's like, what a demented and like talk about themselves on Instagram. I mean, these demented narcissists is what I call it.

Like, there's such. I just want to beat them because, okay, what did I do? Well, I worked out and ate all my food. I didn't look at a video game. I didn't pick up a controller. I spent 12 hours writing and creating narratives and reading books and running this and helping out with that and so and so needed it, like building giant empires of mental health and physical fitness and wellness.

That's the narrative, man. Physical, mental, spiritual, I still have trouble with. Mental I have trouble with. Physical, I look great, but I feel like shit. Well, that's the double-edged sort of bodybuilding. Yeah. You look amazing, but you don't feel good. I'm actually for the first time trying to put on a little bulk and I feel watery. I'm like, shut up, dude.

My eight pack is only a seven pack. Yeah. Shut up. I don't care. I hate the lifestyle, but I don't know why it's so ingrained in me. The pursuit of something better always intrigues me. Yeah. I got the physical down enough. If I was truly, here's the thing about hard work. Hard work is doing this stuff you don't want to do.

So when somebody like very close to me is like, man, I'm a hard worker and then spends the rest of their day laying on a couch. Like, no, you worked hard at the thing you like to do. Yeah. Go to the gym rules. Eating food rules. You work hard at that. Hard work is doing the stuff you don't want to do.

And one thing I don't want to do is take. a day off and I need to, but I can't make myself and I would benefit from it. I know it. At the same time, I'm like, someone else. So, yeah, what am I talking about? Maybe it's time to take a day off. It is a rest day. Well, I mean, like a full resty. Like my day off is like, I'll go for a bike right now. Yeah, I'll call it active recovery. Yeah, I'll call it active recovery. And then next thing you know, I'm like doing stomach crunches in the park. I'm like, what's your sign, babe?

I'm a Pisces. Borderline Ares. So I'm a leader. Yeah. That's it. Stay lean. Stay healthy. That's it.

Stop hurting. But I do hurt. You mentioned people wrestling in the 40s and 50s. I'm like, I don't know how they do it. No. I remember I just went to Shine Down with Braun. We spent the day at the Olympia and we're pushing our message, pushing stuff like that. Merch.

It was like good branding for us because I love getting outside the bubble. Cool. Meet a lot of interesting people, but we go to see Shine Down. We're walking back. We've been on her feet all day and being a big man is very difficult. How I feel is horrible. And we're both like hobbling. Like I'm watching him walking his right legs dragging.

like he's a fucking pirate captain with a wooden leg. My foot hurts. And I'm just like, hobble. I'm like, look at us. People think we're in shape and we're healthy. We can barely walk. Car. You need some mobility from the sounds of it.

I do. I need more yoga babes, which is going in line with astrology, babes. Maybe. All right. Well, let's wrap it up here. It's free the narrative to. The links are down below in the description.

What else do we want to plug here? I mean, freeec3.com is my website. I never update, but if you go over to my wearable propaganda section, you'll find cool-ass merchandise that they're printing in the back over there, you know, like this handy three brand. Literally doing it as we speak here, yeah. Literally actually, they're making a giant supplement order. I wish I'd have sold that much merch.

But the thing about the narrative, too. No, they're printing shirts to the right of you. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's a giant. I find you to the left. All right. They're not my shirts. They're not EC3 shirts. is what I got you.

But like control your narrative, a big thing with Free the Narrative. Our music is original made in house. Our merchandise is original made in house. Like it's important to keep everything integrity. It's a lot of work. But yeah, freec3.com, follow me, Instagram at the Real EC3. Think Facebook at the Real EC3. Twitter I never use.

What assessable bad thoughts? It's just a horrible place, Twitter. Follow me there. At the Real EC3. I usually just retweet and hashtag control your narrative. at this point because I oh the debates over there no one wins a lot yeah humanity is losing the battle every day you look at that shit's yelling into a vacuum you know it's yeah uh what free the narrative dot com we write blogs we'll have over schedules we have a lot of things we want to do

we want to take narrative showings and doom in theaters with meet and greets and then like cue that's great yeah that'd be cool right yeah we're going away i always i always love the idea of this being live fights for people to watch. I don't know how to pull it off yet. I don't want to be a wrestling company. I have no aspirations of being, we're going to be the fourth or fifth brand. It's going to be you're the control your narrative champion. No, I want to create a place. I want to create a safe space to not be safe. I want to create a place for talent to supplement their content and their careers in this world, in the wrestling world, by being who they want to be and taking it somewhere.

I want somebody who gets fired to knock on my door and come out when the time's up, guns blazing something completely different in who they envision themselves to be. I want people to fucking have fun. Yeah. Even though I don't. You do.

Yeah. You too. I want to create something that will last. Like you said, when you started, before we started, I was like, let's start. I think we're ready. Lives forever.

Yeah. What are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? I am grateful for the incredible people that have found themselves in my life. Through these synchronosities? Synchronosities. Yes. I think. Yeah. I mean, the people working behind me, like how they came to be in this shop at this moment. My friend, J.C., the narrator, to like his circle, my circle, went or twice a little, all the friends I made through wrestling just was it what I'm thankful for is that where we're going yeah what you're grateful for yeah grateful for I'm grateful for that circle

and I think I said it five times but I'm grateful for the trust people put in me I uh meets me more than they know I am grateful number two for just my aesthetics man I look fantastic wow we're cutting a promo and the grateful section my whole life's a promo i when i i broke up with a girl once or she broke up with me it doesn't matter for the sake of the story i broke with her in reality she broke up with me but i'm like talking to her and i'm like this this and she's like you're cutting a promo on me right now my whole life's a problem she's like i know that's the problem i'm like yeah yeah yeah uh but yeah not just the aesthetic

but being able to be comfortable and confident in who I am. It helps a lot if you're having troubles and issues with that. Take care of it. And this isn't for me to sell my app, join.freyec3.com. Use promo code CYN weekly for 50% off. But no, in reality, you can find a lot through yourself through your physical manifestation. Because if you're confident in your own skin,

you become confident in life. You become confident in the ability to say what you think, what you feel, you know, the tenants I speak of in the narrative. But through my physicality, I have found mental and spiritual things through seeking more information, like, how many grams of protein should I have post work out? Next thing, I'm in a rabbit hole of the word synchronicities, like reading some like really esoteric stuff. And the next thing, you know, I'm researching Plato's the cave analogy because of this thing.

And then I'm just in a rabble whole of information that makes me think outside of what I'm, what I was seeking originally. So being thankful for my physicality means I'm thankful for my mental acuity and my spiritual awakening and all the yoga babies. Number three, okay, here's something I just learned. I'm thankful for forgiveness. not forgiving to make somebody even feel better or okay. I'm thankful for the ability to forgive somebody and then therefore free myself from my feelings

that I hold on to and repress from a past. Yeah, it's like you've forgiven yourself through that action. Yes, and it's about when you forgive somebody, it's not about them. It's about you. So don't be afraid to. And it's nobody has gotten further avenges and spit and hatred and disdain and animosity and anger and vitriol and screaming and throwing shit around and rage everything. Like that took me very far. I'm very grateful for that.

Yeah. But as I realize now, one instance of forgiveness was a synchronicity that put me on an even better path. So it's okay. And that's not saying be soft and be a wuss for like an alpha dude that's like, I can forgive nobody. It's so you can kick more ass. Yeah. Because if it's not whole,

if you're that apprehension is not hanging over your head, you can kick way more ass with a clear mind. I heard a great quote. It was not forgiving someone else is like drinking poison and hoping that it affects them. Yeah. It's so true. I don't know why I mean you think of the Princess Bride with a karyole. He's doing the old switcheroo and they drink the poison.

What a way to end this. This was so in depth. This might be one of my favorite conversations that I've ever had. Stop it. Really? Seriously. Because a lot, you know, we talked a little bit about wrestling, but we talked so much about life. And there's so much during this conversation that's going to speak directly to somebody

who's struggling with something. Yeah. I agree. everybody does you know everybody does different levels what I've been through there's no way it's even in the top one percent of what other people go through

so we all fight our own battles and don't need to glamorize mine because everybody does it but just know that there are people that everyone doesn't and talking about it helps and never be afraid never be afraid to because let me sell my shit to you one last time

the pillars of control your narrative, our control, you take back control, freedom, you fight for freedom, the freedom to act, the freedom to think, the freedom to speak, the freedom to feel, and through that all, you find purpose. So we're all on the path, hopefully. Yeah. What a way to end it. Thank you so much. Well, thank you, brother. This is what happened to the narrative, like a full-blown therapeutic breakdown people. So watch it on YouTube. VV. I really enjoyed that. I mean, I really enjoy pretty much all the conversations we have in the show, but I felt like this one was on a different level. So EC3, thank you for being on this episode. I know that you listen to my podcast and they help put you to sleep. So I envision you in your bed right now. Listen to this at some ungodly hour like 3.30 in the morning. Hopefully this is soothing you and putting you to sleep right now. You can follow EC3 on social media at The Real EC3.

If you're not already following me, you can find me at Chris Van Fleet. And I'm hoping that you follow or subscribe to the show. But if not, please take a second right now to click subscribe and leave a review if you're listening on Apple Podcasts. Since we talked all about controlling your narrative, freeing your narrative, finding your own path, I'll leave you with the words from the great Ralph Waldo Emerson, who says, Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Be great, be grateful.

We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do with rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand.

He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.