WWE Raw: The Booking of EC3 is Shockingly Bad

While he has yet to officially choose a brand to claim as his own, EC3 appeared on WWE Raw again last night. This time being interviewed on A Moment of Bliss before making his in-ring debut against Dean Ambrose. So far, EC3’s arrival to the main roster has kicked off with more of a whimper than a bang.

Last night served as EC3’s first official onscreen appearance in front of a live WWE Raw crowd. For many fans, their first image of EC3 is going to be of him trading cringeworthy innuendo banter with Alexa Bliss. Well, not so much trading as he is receiving it.

EC3 has yet to say a single word on the mic. Because, of course, WWE thinks it’s smart to have one of their best talkers essentially play a mute character.

His interview gets interrupted by Nia Jax and Tamina, who chastise Bliss for her segment and for losing a match from the previous week. Then, Dean Ambrose comes out to interrupt the interruption to talk to Jax about attacking him last week. EC3 has now been overshadowed by four different competitors in his debut segment.

via wwe.com

EC3 then proceeded to win his debut match against the former WWE Champion, but a win like that means nothing when EC3 receives such a lukewarm reaction. Notice during EC3’s post-match victory celebration at ringside that while the NXT standout looked pumped as he jumped around near the fans, the crowd were glued to their seats with contentment in their eyes.

As evident from the dead reaction to the former Impact Heavyweight Champion getting the 3-count, the crowd just didn’t care. The crowd didn’t have a reason to. Not when he’s presented as an afterthought in a segment beforehand. Not when EC3 hasn’t said a word yet to even hint at his personality or where he stands on the heel/face fence. They don’t know EC3 yet, so why should they care about him?

The current booking of EC3 is bad whether you’re familiar with the guy or not. If you have no idea who EC3 is, you still don’t because WWE has done a poor job of introducing him to new audiences. If you’re a fan of his TNA or NXT work, you know he’s not living up to his full potential. The guy has proven to be one of the wrestling industry most charismatic and confident men to ever pick up a microphone and speak into it. WWE are doing a disservice to both the fans and EC3 himself by not showcasing the best of his ability.

When WWE first starting airing graphics for their upcoming NXT call-ups, EC3 was always pegged to be one of their new top stars. They saved the best for last when mentioning him whenever these graphics aired and he was the only call-up to film brand new visuals teasing him. Oddly enough, they were visuals of him ripping off his clothes, but that’s beside the point.

Point is that from the start, EC3 was set up as their next big thing. If his debut is anything to go off, WWE is dropping the ball with The One Percenter before he has a chance to flourish.

WWE shouldn’t overcomplicate his booking with nonsense like what we saw last night. All they have to do is let EC3 be EC3. The sooner WWE understands that, the sooner that EC3 will flourish on the main roster.