Exclusive Interview With "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels

On Possible ROH Talent And A.J. Styles

AS: Is there any recent WWE or TNA release that you€™d like to see in ROH? CD: Nothing really comes to mind. I€™ve heard a lot of great stuff about Drew Galloway (Drew McIntyre) since he€™s been let go and sort of found himself back on the independent scene. But I thought he was a good talent before, like when he was in WWE. I thought he was great, and I heard he€™s been in Evolve. Just won the championship, so I€™d be interested to see what he€™d do in a Ring of Honor ring. I don€™t know if contractually that€™s a possibility, but that would be cool. No one else off the top of my head, maybe Chris Sabin. Sabin would be great in Ring of Honor. I just don€™t know what his mindset is, if he€™d want to come to Ring of Honor and be a part of it full-time, or if he€™s enjoying the freedom of being on the independent scene. I just recently saw him again at the battle of Los Angeles at PWG. I know he€™s really enjoying going out there and showing the world that he€™s still one of the best. He€™s also a former world champion. AS: What are your thoughts on Matt Sydal (former Evan Bourne) coming back into ROH CD: I think it€™s great. I€™m glad that he€™s finally back in the ring. I missed him a lot when he was in WWE. I wish he€™d got through his health issues a little earlier and had the opportunity to get back in the ring there. But I think he€™s happy and he€™s motivated to sort of let everybody know that he€™s a force to be reckoned with. AS: How was it battling AJ Styles for the IFWA title? It seems that you guys have battled all over the country, maybe the world? CD: Yeah, we€™ve wrestled in a couple different countries, and this Friday night (Sept. 5) was another chapter man. But it was fun. That was the first time he and I had wrestled for more than a year. It was fun, he€™s a great challenge and the fact that he€™s really stepped up his game since he left TNA and became the IWPG Champion. You know, he€™s world class. He€™s definitely world class. And any chance I have to get into the ring with him it€™s definitely something I look forward to. AS: Why the switch from Bad Influence to The Addiction? CD: TNA trademarked the name. It€™s also closing a door on a chapter on our lives and moving forward. The same team, but different so to speak. We wanted people to know that it€™s a new era for us, but we€™re still a great team and looking forward to making history in Ring of Honor and wherever we go.

On Writing His First Comic Book

AS: You recently wrote your first comic book €œChristopher Daniels and Kazarian Wrestle Aw Yeah Comics!€ How did that come about, and will we be seeing a rematch? CD: Well I can answer the second part first and say yes, I€™ve written a sequel and just waiting for an opportunity for Art (Baltazar) and Franco (Aureliani) to put effort into it. Those guys are very, very busy at this point. They€™re very in demand and deservedly so. They€™re definitely the best all-ages comic guys in the business, and you know, overall just great guys and great creators and great artists. In terms of writing the story, I had the whole idea in my head before I even sat down. The concept is trying to make a piece of merchandise that would appeal to younger wrestling fans and selling these at shows. At the time I was with TNA, the idea was that I€™d sell these at TNA live events, because you know, the merchandise is aimed at the 18 to 34 year old demographic, t-shirts and dvds and such, and nothing that a 6-year-old, 8-year-old, 10-year-old might gravitate towards. The idea was going to be to get something the younger audience would appeal to them. Knowing Art Franco as long as I have that those are the guys to approach about doing it. I had the idea of Frankie and I interacting with Action Cat, and Adventure Bug and Awesome Bear and completely unsolicited sent the script to Art and Frano. €˜Hey man, are you busy? Is this something that you€™d want to fit into your schedule?€™ And they were so gracious to even consider doing it, and they were thrilled. They put pen to paper and put out an outstanding book that I€™m very proud of, and no matter what happens in the rest of my career, I€™ll always be able to say that I created this comic book and that I€™m a comic book writer. So it means a lot to me for somebody who's been a wrestling fan all his life to be able to have something that I created, this physical thing in my hand that I created. It€™s awesome. AS: Had that been a dream of yours to write a comic book? Or was that something that came to you after reading for so long? CD: No, I had thought about it off and on and every once in a while I€™ve been inspired to write stories, and put pen to paper a couple times. But nothing to the extent what I did for this one. It was very difficult at times to flesh it out and I haven€™t had an opportunity to sit down and finish those projects. But this one came all at once, and I had the chance to write it all out and put it down before the inspiration left me. I was real lucky. Like I said I was real fortunate that those guys were willing to put the effort out to make it a reality.