The "Control Your Narrative" Wrestling Promotion Is A Disaster Waiting To Happen
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- Control Your Narrative Is A Failure Before It Even Got Off The Ground
When it comes to what has fans talking, WWE's return to Madison Square Garden ahead of WrestleMania back in April and AEW's highly anticipated Revolution pay-per-view back in February have had the lion's share of the discourse. But, one promotion drew curious eyes, some morbidly so, to their first live event. Capitalizing on the AEW Revolution traffic, Control Your Narrative ran its first 'Awakening' show in Orlando, FL.
The brainchild of EC3, Control Your Narrative has branded itself as staunchly counterculture and anti-establishment, in regard to the makeup of the professional wrestling industry, as well as society as a whole. Whilst pushing the envelope and new ideas breed creativity, the way in which Control Your Narrative has gone about introducing itself to the world reeks of a dumpster fire that threatens to burn down those around it.
UPDATE: 2022/10/08 15:30 EST BY Andrew Kelly
Control Your Narrative Is A Failure Before It Even Got Off The Ground
The Control Your Narrative promotion is one of the weirdest projects of the last year or so. Being led by EC3, the company has received its fair share of bad press and negativity, with that being down to several reasons. When first looking at how things were going, it was easy to see where issues were cropping up, but also where potential dangers lay for the professional wrestling world with them around. However, since the initial look at CYN, there have been a few developments in the project, some of which are positive and some negative, depending on how you look at it. It is certainly interesting to look back at the perceived nature of CYN and where it is now, with things looking poor for their future.
What is Control Your Narrative?
EC3 was a part of the first wave of WWE releases during the COVID-19 pandemic, being cut in April 2020 along with many others. Highly regarded as a great creative mind following his run in IMPACT Wrestling, fans were eager to see what EC3 would do next after being squandered in the WWE system. No one could quite predict what he had in store.
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As released wrestlers have done many times before, EC3 took to social media to air his grievances, but in a dramatic fashion. These videos all centered around the idea of taking control of his own narrative, a clear statement of frustration with WWE's creative and corporate wrestling as a whole. These promos would come to involve EC3 making similar statements in regard to other released wrestlers, such as Drake Maverick before he was rehired, fired again, and rehired once more by WWE.
In the time since, EC3 has produced cinematic matches under the banner 'Free the Narrative' and has even taken this mission statement to IMPACT and ROH, now bringing it all together as a promotion of its own. The sentiments all seemed to be in line with many of the principles that have helped independent wrestling thrive for years now, so why is it turning people away?
Why is Control Your Narrative So Worrying?
Getting people to invest in a new wrestling company is all in the advertisement and promotion of it. Somewhere along the way, Control Your Narrative veered from that independent spirit to taking on characteristics of fringe political groups. Vague messages of fighting for freedom, finding a purpose, and reclaiming control sit uncomfortably close in line with the rhetoric spewed by QAnon groups and alt-right talking heads that have risen to prominence in the online space. The messages from these political groups have manifested all too real consequences across the United States and the world as a whole, and Control Your Narrative veering towards those same propaganda tactics and sentiments is enough to put many fans off.
Then, add to this the personnel involved alongside EC3, and it becomes apparent that these ideologies might not just be for promotional purposes. Braun Strowman (Adam Scherr) partnered up with EC3 on this venture. Scherr lost a lot of goodwill in March 2020 when he publicly chastised independent wrestlers asking for support as the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the live performance space, telling them to be accountable for their own actions. Another recent WWE release joined the ensemble in Karrion, now Killer, Kross. Kross made several appearances with Drake Wuertz, the once-beloved deathmatch wrestler turned referee turned conspiracy theorist, at events linked to the QAnon movement. The group is also joined by Flip Gordon, the high-flyer who rose to prominence thanks to Being the Elite, who has since lost a lot of support since his vocal stance against face masks and vaccinations. Then, the other marquee name associated with Control Your Narrative is Austin Aries. Outspoken on his anti-mask and anti-vaccination beliefs since the start of the pandemic, Aries also has seemingly no end of attitude problems that have burned bridges with essentially every other promotion of note, as well as having a multitude of accusations of abuse that came to light during the Speaking Out Movement.
The Innovations Of Control Your Narrative Are A Confusing Mess
Then, we come to their debut show itself. Control Your Narrative made headlines when they announced their 'Rage Room', a VIP experience where fans could pay to enter a room with their most hated member of the CYN roster and say whatever they wanted to them without repercussions, with the idea being to challenge 'keyboard warriors' coming to their shows. The show also began with EC3 ranting about taking back control as a man kneeling in the ring with a bag over his head, an image reminiscent of extremist groups from around the world. Later on, a wrestler named Man Bun Jesus makes a joke about seeing a lizard person in the bushes of Florida, referencing the David Icke conspiracy theory that is deeply rooted in anti-Semitism.
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The whole promotion seems like the dream of a Facebook uncle who complains about 'cancel culture'. Control Your Narrative is clearly influenced by Fight Club's 'Project Mayhem', though they have failed to grasp the work's messages on the dangers of toxic masculinity, proto-fascism, and the creation of cult-like followings. Whilst some may find some cringe-humor in the debut show, from being hosted in the back of an Orlando bar with some poor production value (even by independent wrestling standards) to just the bizarre nature of it all, CYN is a troubling addition to the wrestling ecosystem.
Control Your Narrative doesn't seem to be going anywhere just yet, however. The promotion announced a partnership with 'Pro Wrestling TV', a totally legitimate sounding broadcaster set to launch in April, with CYN beginning to film content at their next event. Also supported by a merchandise store that sells a sample of the most cringe-inducing wrestling shirts in existence as well as the 'Control Your Nutrition' food supplements, they're clearly looking to set up for the long haul - though how much longevity does a ticking time bomb truly have?
* What Has Happened To Control Your Narrative Since?
Whilst it seemed as though Control Your Narrative was on a relative rise, with some fairly big names on board and a deal with a streaming platform, things stopped dead in their tracks when it came to the once budding yet worrying promotion. Their partnership with Pro Wrestling TV has seen just three episodes uploaded on the streaming service, with things not continuing onwards past then, and the promotion not putting on one of their own events ever since May of 2022, according to cagematch.net, nearly half a year ago at this point. On their website, there are no ticketed events available, with it still showing an event for July of 2022, which has passed now. Their YouTube channel has been equally quiet, not uploading a video for four months.
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Whilst it may seem as though things are potentially on a small rise, as names from CYN have appeared on several shows, with them billing events like CYN vs AML and CYN vs FML, working in conjunction with other promotions, it looks to be mostly doom and gloom. In terms of their very own events, nothing looks to be happening any time soon. In addition, there are some more worrying signs ahead for the future of CYN. The two biggest stars outside of EC3 who were working with CYN were Killer Kross and Adam Scherr. In recent months, following Triple H taking creative control in WWE, they have both been brought back to the WWE under their previous names of Karrion Kross and Braun Strowman, dealing a killer blow to CYN and taking perhaps their two biggest draws.
In the case of Strowman especially, he was someone who carried a strong name value, but with that now ripped away from CYN, they have very little to offer in terms of star power. It feels as though CYN will continue ticking on at a snail’s pace, but with all the bad publicity, bad luck, and fairly lackluster shows, they won’t make any important or prominent strides as a company, with there being little interest in what they have to offer, especially now the initial buzz and heat have died down.
