With the additions of AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode, WWE has never been so open to acquiring talent from Impact Wrestling. And that trend may continue at January 28th’s Royal Rumble.
Ethan Carter III, one of the most successful wrestlers in recent Impact history, is currently a free agent. Before his contract even expired, he and Bobby Lashley were implicated in rumors that had them landing in WWE.However, according to PWInsider, it’s EC3 who’s legally available to appear anywhere in the wrestling world and he may have just cleared his schedule to show up at the Royal Rumble.
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Renegade Wrestling Revolution, an independent promotion originally booked EC3 for their January 28th event. However, they just announced that he will no longer be able to attend. This sudden flipping of schedules has created the perfect breeding ground for Royal Rumble speculation.
“BREAKING NEWS!!!!!! Do to reasons out of RWR control EC3 will not be able to attend RWR “OVER THE TOP”. EC3 has said he will be back to RWR in the near future. We here at RWR wish EC3 the best and will see him soon,” RWR wrote in their announcement.
EC3 does have WWE on his resumรจ but was limited to the earlier chapters of NXT from 2010-2013. Given his accomplishment in Impact and the hot streak TNA alum have in WWE, we can guess his arrival in the company is imminent. At 34 years old, there’s a decent chance he skips NXT altogether too, but can we expect him at the Rumble?
Well, AJ Styles did set the consummate precedent at the 2016 Royal Rumble for big debuts. Styles rode the momentum from his monstrous crowd reaction into having one of the best “rookie” years in WWE history. However, WWE will have to decide if they believe EC3 is capable of similar results.
A Ruble debut is a great way to introduce any star and seeing that this year’s event is in Philadelphia, the ravenous crowd may be exceptionally receptive to EC3’s big moment. In short, it makes sense.
However, we’ll just have to wait and see.
