La Zona Muerta

I was already a fan, but I remember when Christopher Daniels gained a permanent grip on my heart. I WANT to say it was during ROH Dragon Gate Invasion, but I may be mistaken as I’m too lazy to dig out the DVD and check, but THE KING OF SPICE, CURRY MAN had a hard fought battle, mayyyyybe with Shingo Takagi? That would make sense… but anyway, after the match, maybe as a DVD extra, Daniels shows up late at the arena. “I MISSED him? I NEVER get to see him!” he shouted. What was he on about? HE WAS ANGRY THAT HE MISSED THE SPICE BASED ANTICS OF CURRY MAN.

I think I immediately ordered a three disc “Best of Curry Man” compilation from the (not yet) hated RF Video.

I’ve said before, as I rebuilt my wrestling fandom after the collapse of WCW that TNA was sort of my gateway drug to get back in, leading me to ROH and Dragon Gate and the grimy world of puro tape trading. If TNA was the drug, Daniels was the delivery device, the needle, if you will. I really liked AJ Styles, I loved some of the goofy enhancement guys, the David Youngs, the D-Ray 3000s, the Shark Boys, but the guy who compelled me the most when I started watching TNA was EASILY Daniels. I think the powers that were back then realized pretty early on that Daniels was a utility player; he was all over those early episodes of Impact, providing commentary, getting vignettes, promo time, getting to be in actual angles (no mean feat on a forty three minute per episode TV show with no room for anybody but Jeff Jarrett). This guy was the REAL DEAL, a cocky, arrogant heel who could back up his boasting. This was a guy who, so supremely confident in his abilities, would scream the name of his moves, as if calling for a home run in the manner of Babe Ruth. This was a guy who would land a blow on his opponent, stop, find the hard cam and scream “ONE FOR ME!” and point to himself gleefully with his thumb. Athletic, charismatic, articulate, funny… I likened him to a Chris Jericho type; someone who could play any role the company needed of him.

After they split up his tag team with Elix Skipper (the late, lamented Triple X), there was no doubt he was gonna be okay. He was immediately in a program with Styles, hounding him over the title of “Mr. TNA.” When Samoa Joe came in, Daniels was right there in the thick of it, which led to bloody matches and of course, that famous three way battle between Joe, Styles and Daniels, still an absolute classic and the single best match in TNA’s twenty three year history. Later, as Joe continued his rampage over the X Division, they would liberally, uh… “borrow” ROH’s “Code of Honor” as a heretofore unknown part of X Division lore, noting that Samoa Joe didn’t RESPECT THE CODE OF THE X DIVISION, leading to Daniels being beaten bloody by Joe. Strangely, I think Joe / Daniels arc didn’t fully pay off in TNA and had a blowoff match for the X Division title in ROH instead, if memory serves!* Cross company stuff is, was and remains strange. He held the X division championship for months and months, turned face and formed a KILLER tag team with AJ Styles, lost his first name and gained a henna tattoo… feuded with Kurt Angle, with Sting (maybe don’t look that stuff up… it was… odd, to say the least), even reformed Triple X for a couple of months… all sorts.

By the time I grew completely disenchanted with TNA around 2010, he was severely downplayed by the Hulk Hogan / Eric Bischoff regime. I recall the crowd literally TURNING THEIR BACKS TO THE CAMERA as Daniels was fed to a nameless Val Venis out of nowhere. Q RATINGS, PAL. By this point, it was clear Daniels was severely undervalued. He bounced along aimlessly until he was able to form his most (in)famous tag team, Bad Influence, with his friend Frankie Kazarian and tried his best through months of the interminable “Claire Lynch” storyline (a convoluted mess involving AJ potentially having an affair with TNA owner Dixie Carter), trying to make lemonade out of lemons. Finally, he and Kazarian were released from TNA sometime around 2014 (the reason? A classy but incredulous Daniels on a shoot interview, not wanting to burn any bridges, finally said that he was told that he and Kazarian were “too entertaining”), and he returned to ROH, reforming his team with Kazarian and eventually adding Southern California-based friend and rival Scorpio Sky, where they became So Cal Uncensored, or more popularly, SCU. Daniels captured more tag team gold, the TV title and even the World Heavyweight title as well, adding to an already illustrious career… and when the Elite made their exodus from ROH and New Japan Pro Wrestling to form AEW, he and SCU were there, too, Daniels becoming an actual executive in the fledgling company.

Which, I suppose is a roundabout way of finally getting us to Saturday night when the Fallen Angel made one last stand against Hangman Adam Page.

The Fallen Angel, the Ring General, the Best in the Biz-i-ness

I don’t know that I was a big fan of how AEW got here… I had noted here previously that Daniels randomly told Page right before that AWFUL four way at the end of December despite Hangman’s new, crazy persona that Daniels had his back. It ended up not playing into the match at all and was seemingly forgotten for a couple of weeks, before the two had a nasty confrontation over it backstage. From here on the build was great, violent and impassioned, with tremendous promo work by both men, Hanger wondering why Daniels was interfering in his business, Daniels wondering what had happened to his friend of nearly fifteen years. It led to a violent bloodbath Saturday Night on Collision, Daniels trying his best against the man nearly twenty years his junior before he finally succumbed to a NASTY lariat to the back of the head, knocking him out. Post match, Hangman hit Daniels with the Angel’s Wings (a sit out Pedigree with a turn), Daniels’ own finisher, an inspired bit of nastiness.

If anyone ever went out on his shield, it was Christopher Daniels in this, presumably his retirement match.

I should really be refining and finishing my picks for the Voices of Wrestling best of 2024 poll, but here I set instead, ruminating on Daniels, a wrestler who I’ve followed for a little over twenty years, through ups, downs, different personas, different companies. If this was truly his retirement, we’re poorer for it, but I couldn’t have asked for a better way to him to go out.

A quick selection of some (SOME! This doesn’t include any of his fun work as Curry Man, his emotional victory when he finally won the ROH title, the great work he did with Kazarian in TNA as Bad Influence, the SCU stuff and a million other things I’ve left out, but early TNA stands out to me as the wife and I just finished doing a TNA rewatch through 2005 or so) career highlight matches for the Fallen Angel, Christopher Daniels:

Christopher Daniels vs. Low Ki vs. The American Dragon Bryan Danielson – ROH The Era of Honor Begins 2002 – Three of the best wrestlers on the independent scene of 2002 battled for supremacy on the first ROH show. This shows how highly revered Daniels already was on the scene and he would be an early anchor and focal point for ROH until their acrimonious split with TNA

AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels – TNA Against All Odds 2005 – this was a thirty minute Iron Man match and this is the time where Daniels is DESPERATE to prove he’s as good, if not better than his rival AJ Styles. I’m not a huge Iron Man guy but this is where TNA started putting itself on the map as always having a must see match on PPV for a LONG stretch of time, probably for a good couple of years. A must see if you like both men

Triple X vs. America’s Most Wanted at TNA Turning Point 2004 – the infamous match where Elix Skipper walks the top of the cage. There’s a lot more to this match than that; it’s very emotional as the losing team has to split and it’s a bloodbath, besides. A culmination of early TNA’s promise. Their earlier cage match during the Asylum days was also an early TNA stand out but has a kind of goofy finish where Elix is knocked off of the cage but for some reason can’t make it back in to save Daniels from the wrath of AMW. Both are worth watching but the Six Sides of Steel match is better and more emotional

The Addiction vs. the Motor City Machine Guns vs. the Young Bucks at ROH All Star Extravaganza 2016 – If you like a goddamn spotfest, this match is a never ending one. SPECTACULAR if you like that sorta thing. On top of the three teams in the match, this was a LADDER WAR, as well, so brace yourself for some sickening bumps

Daniels vs. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe at TNA Unbreakable 2005 – as good as the hype would suggest… just a perfect match, transitioning in and out of three man spots credibly. The only thing wrong with it? AJ Styles was mad that they messed up a planned spot, but Daniels was able to call the action and get everyone back on the same page! It’s there if you know where to look for it but if you don’t, the match appears seamless. TNA also threw together a rematch right before Hogan et al. came in at Turning Point 2009 that felt like a thank you to both the fans and the wrestlers themselves that’s worth a watch, but if you can, the Unbreakable match is the one to see

*I’m sure this was the case because I specifically remember Daniels coming out to Samoa Joe’s ROH theme music which proclaimed “THE CHAMP IS HERE” and Joe being enraged