A few weeks back on the Impact episode following Slammiversary TNA finally had Ethan Carter III (a.k.a EC3) take hold of their top prize and begin his inaugural heavyweight championship run, his first championship reign in the company. Veteran champion Kurt Angle was defeated in a stellar match as the fresh, young champion stood victorious and went on to deliver a backstage promo that would rival the best talkers in TNA history.

Impact Wrestling have made a fantastic manoeuvre as after a tremendous amount of build to the moment they have put faith in EC3 as their new face of the company – they now need to kick on from this win, not fuck it up (PLEASE TNA), and give him a convincing tenure at the top.

This tenure has been a mixed bag in the first few weeks. Firstly he heeled it up by squashing Shark Boy and Norv Fernum, good – but in the same night he lost to Angle via DQ, bad. This loss kept the strap on him but the manner of the defeat made him look weak as he was entangled in the ankle lock and only escaped the match by hitting the ref to cause the bell ring. It’s okay to be a chickenshit/cocky heel, but booking Carter a quality first true defence would have immediately legitimised his reign.

Drew Galloway was his next opponent and though the finish was about as dirty as they come he more than held his own against the gargantuan ICW champ in what was a solid affair – leaving Ethan in a much stronger than the previous week. Any momentum gained here was quelled the week after though as he didn’t even appear on the episode – a poor move on TNA’s part.

Momentum that was not picked up this week either as despite cutting a promo on Matt and a returning Jeff Hardy which I enjoyed (he was overloading the heel meter chatting shit about Jeff’s non-kayfabe broken leg), he didn’t wrestle. Hopefully in the upcoming full-metal-mayhem match between himself and Matt the belt holder proves his worth and has a battle of equal quality to his top-notch promos.

This inconsistent back-and-to writing that we have witnessed needs to stop sooner rather than later in order for EC3 to pick up a head of steam and ride the hype train over the horizon into true wrestling stardom. So far this run hasn’t exactly set the world alight but there’s plenty of reasons the future will be prosperous.

Firstly, Carter is more than capable of performing in a money-drawing feud. His stuff with Angle was decent but his war with Rockstar Spud earlier this year was one of the I have seen in TNA and wouldn’t have looked out of place amongst Wrestlemania storylines as it cultivated in a captivating and blood-filled hair versus hair match which I highly recommend people check out.

Promos, as I have already pointed out, are his best work and on top of that he knows how to work a crowd and show his persona both in and out of matches – with his attention to detail in facial expressions and responding to crowd chants showing his superior talents. Skills like these really benefit the star who isn’t exceptional in the ring but can certainly wrestler well enough to entertain the Impact Zone.

Another reason to be cheerful aside from the former-NXT man’s impressive personal attributes is the way that TNA have built and booked their champions over the last couple of years. EY went from being a joke to a valid title holder and Lashley was made to look like a killing machine; leading to much better matches by the big man as a result. A lot of people may criticise Impact but when it comes to hosting an impressive champion, of late, they have nailed it.

Should Dixie’s company give EC3 the foundations he can easily build a significant stranglehold on the strap and a lengthy run would be of benefit to both the character and the show itself. At 32 years of age Carter has tonnes of time to give, grow and if he truly proves his worth I can see the man being back in NXT and the main roster of WWE – especially given that TNA’s future is about as stable as a drunk man on a tightrope.

All the best to both parties though – the run will be magical so long as creatively they don’t fully shit it up the wall and allow people to claim ‘LOLTNA’ about Ethan Carter’s title saga.