Exclusive Interview With "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels

Daniels talks about his new and old companies, interactions with Hulk Hogan, comic talk and more.

Chris Daniels If Ring of Honor ever gets their own Hall of Fame, and if TNA€™s is still around in a few years, you can imagine that Christopher Daniels would be one of the few men on the planet to be inducted into both. Daniels has been with both wrestling organizations from their inception (he first appeared on TNA€™s fourth weekly pay-per-view, and main-evented the first ROH show), and been one of their best workers. Throughout the years, his character has evolved from a dark, religious menace to a man that just loves to have an appletini or two. Recently, he€™s also taken his love of comic books into a new realm after writing his own comic €œChristopher Daniels and Kazarian Wrestle Aw Yeah Comics.€ In a baffling decision, he was released from TNA earlier this year. However, TNA€™s loss is ROH€™s gain as Daniels and his co-hort Frankie Kazarian have joined the company€™s thriving tag division. Here Daniels talks about his new and old companies, interactions with Hulk Hogan, comic talk and more. Andrew Soucek (AS): All Star Extravaganza 6 went down this week and in general, how are you feeling about Ring of Honor and where they€™re headed? Christopher Daniels (CD): Really good man, I€™m really happy that Frankie and I got a chance to join the company when we did. When I left in 2011, they just signed on with Sinclair, so literally, I left right when things started to go good for them, and the things that have happened for them in the past three years I literally had nothing to do with. So it wouldn€™t have been inconceivable for them to say 'you know what CD, you did a lot for this company, but we don€™t have room for you.' I mean I would have understood, because that€™s a place that people want to go. And I was real fortunate that first they wanted me to come back and second, have a spot for me and Frankie. I€™m real happy to be a part of it and real thrilled that we€™ve had the opportunity to work with great teams since we€™ve got back: ReDRagon, The Young Bucks, Mike Bennett and Adam Cole, we€™ve had some really good ones, and I€™m looking forward to doing a lot more with them in the future.

On Tag, Age, and Elgin

Ase6thedecadevskazdanielsAS: You took on Roderick Strong and Jimmy Jacobs at the most recent pay-per-view, any other teams you€™re looking forward to facing? Or any potential singles matches? CD: The only team that we haven€™t really had a chance to face is the Briscoes, and you know, that was one of the teams that Frankie was really interested in working with, because he had never had the opportunity to work with them. I think that us vs.The Briscoes would be a great event and singles action too, I think that Frankie and I would like that opportunity as well, especially with Jay being the world champion, to get an opportunity to be world champion, or even Television Champion with Jey Lethal. I€™d love the opportunity to work with all these guys. Guys like Adam Cole and Michael Elgin, and all these guys man. They€™re great talents, and I think that the challenge, especially for me at this stage of the game is to keep up and see if I can perform at that top level with these guys who are coming up and are hungry, and so far I feel that I€™ve been able to get in the ring and hang with these guys, so you know, that€™s the challenge for me and it€™s a challenge that I look forward to. AS: Steve Corino was saying on the air that you€™re basically giving Father Time the middle finger, so overall you€™re feeling pretty good? CD: Yeah, heck with Father Time! Yeah, I feel great man, you know I think a lot of it is mental. I€™ve always taken really good care of myself, you know, in terms of trying to stay healthy, trying to stay in the gym, trying to avoid injuries. When I did get injured, trying to be smart about trying to get back and avoid injury. That plus the desire, that ego, of me to still want to be considered one of the best. That same drive man. I want to get into the ring with Adam Cole, who is 15 years younger than me and say €˜I can hang with you€™ or any of those guys: Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, Jay Lethal, all of these guys. Some of these guys are in their 20s and I€™m almost 45, and you know, I can keep up with them. And the day I can€™t hang with them is the day I€™ll get out. I€™ve always said that if I can€™t perform at a top level I don€™t want to stay past my expiration date. Until that happens, I want to work. I want to wrestle, and Ring of Honor is the place to do that. AS: Michael Elgin lost the title at ASE 6 were you surprised that he dropped it so quick? CD: I was surprised. I didn€™t expect it, but Jay is a great wrestler, and he had a really good run as champion, and literally never lost the title in the ring, so I€™m interested in seeing what Jay€™s path is now that he€™s the champion. And I€™m interested in seeing what happens with Mike Elgin, you know, everybody who's ever held a title at some point is going to lose it. And I think the measure of the guy is now what he does after he loses the title and I€™m looking forward to it. I think Mike is going to bounce back. It was a long time for him to get to be a world champion, and no matter what happens in the rest of his career, he€™ll always be a world champion. At lot of us can€™t say that. I can€™t say that. I know that a couple of days after losing the title it hits you hard, but I€™m interested in seeing how he bounces back. How he€™ll get back on track to try and become a champion again. Click "next" below for part 2...
Contributor

As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at." Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week. Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com