“The TC’s ending is retained for continuity with Ash Vs Evil Dead. I have always preferred the original post-apocalyptic ending over the S-Mart ending. I believe that the original is a more suitable ending for the trilogy,”
I always thought you could super-cut something together so that the “I slept too long” thing transitioned into Ash telling about his adventures in the S-Mart, since the people he is talking to don’t believe him anyway. I never tried it, I’m sure it would take a little bit of fiddling, but it would be fun to try and see if you could cut them both together (obviously, there’s no footage to get him out of the slept too long, but it worked in Baron Munchausen).