That Time Christopher Daniels Was Nearly The Higher Power

Within the next three years (following an all-too-brief stint in the wasteland that was latter-day WCW), Daniels was debuting in the new Ring Of Honor organisation and making a name for himself as one of the best pro wrestlers on the planet. From there, he'd embark on a journey that took him to Mexico and Europe, and he found fame in TNA as a key member of the X Division.

Matches against everyone from AJ Styles and Samoa Joe to Sting and Low Ki tore the house down and reaffirmed Daniels' status as one of the greatest to never get a crack at WWE stardom. Later, he'd defy age to become ROH World Champion in 2017 and work sterling bouts with Adam Cole and Cody, among others.

The wrestling whizz even found time to form a sometimes serious, sometimes comedic tag-team with long-time friend Frankie Kazarian, and they're still killing it as part of SoCal Uncensored in ROH and All Elite Wrestling.

There's a chance none of this would've happened had he been chosen as the 'Higher Power' back in 1999. Daniels' career might've, and probably would've, taken an entirely different path, and he would surely have gone on to do other things in the WWF even if Russo's grand vision had bombed harder than Shotgun Saturday Night.

The ripple effect may have dictated that Daniels maintained his 'Fallen Angel' roots, never wrestled in ROH and never helped TNA gain traction as an upstart alternative to WWE. That's fascinating to think about; what if Chris had become a WWF stalwart and used his Corporate Ministry notoriety to go on to bigger and better stories?

As it is, he's had a strong career anyway, but Daniels must sometimes wonder what it would've been like to order 'Taker around for a while, be cast alongside the McMahon family at the Attitude era's height and sample the rewards that came with being part of a company that could seemingly do no wrong.

Hey, you never know, such glory could've gone to the man's head, earned him a 'Fortune' and swelled his own 'Bad Influence' on others...