Christopher Daniels' TNA main event run that never was.

This is a script for a video on my YouTube channel, which you can view here: https://youtu.be/j4uCXR2XBQo

Now that Slammiversary has just passed, I thought it might be interesting to look at one of the wrestlers that helped TNA rise to what it became in its early years. A man who was part of TNA's only ever five star rated match, but never got to raise the TNA World championship. That man was one of my favourite wrestlers back in the day, the Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels. I'm going to take you through a time where he completely changed his persona, leading to a match at Slammiversary that very well could have positioned him in the main event scene, but sadly by the end of the year he would be storyline fired. Looking back at TNA from this period, there may have been more to the transformation Daniels would make than I had noticed all those years ago, maybe even as far as a year previous.

Throughout the early 2000's Christopher Daniels and his real life friend AJ Styles had travelled the world wrestling each other. Promoters all over wanted to book the special match they had heard about, and bring it to their local area. Styles and Daniels had amazing chemistry and they tore the house down so many times that by the time TNA started pitting them against each other in 2005 they were unstoppable. They and Samoa Joe even had TNA's to date only ever five star rated match. By early 2006 with two rematches of this famous triple threat in the rear view mirror, it only made sense to now team Styles and Daniels up against many fresh opponents in the tag team division.

At Slammiversary 2006 AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels beat America's Most Wanted for the NWA tag titles. This would be AJ's third tag title and Daniels' fifth.  One month previously at Sacrifice Styles and Daniels had failed to win the titles due to AMW's manager Gail Kim throwing a weapon in for Chris Harris to use. The story going in to the rematch was that if Gail interrupted again, Styles and Daniels had a surprise plan in store for her. Sure enough Gail would find herself alone on the ring with the challengers, when a muscular woman would slide into the ring and hit Kim with a chokeslam and remove her from the ring. The woman in question for a while would only be referred to as "that big amazon woman", and would serve as an equaliser for Styles and Daniels and go on to have a brief run in TNA.We would later find out that this woman was named Sirelda for reasons that I'm going to let you work out by yourself. As the knockouts division was around a year away from being created there weren't that many opponents for Sirelda, and that may a factor in why her run was so short.

Styles and Daniels would retain the titles at Hard Justice against the fairly new team at the time of Homicide and Hernandez, the Latin American Xchange led by Konnan. In the Border Brawl rematch though which took place on the August 24th Impact, Chris Daniels would be pinned to lose the titles to LAX after Konnan hit Daniels off the top rope with a weapon. The first title reign of LAX would only last a month though, as Styles and Daniels would regain the titles at No Surrender in a match stipulation that suited them well, the first ever tag team Ultimate X. In this match, Chris Daniels would perform a crazy looking stunt that could have potentially gone wrong, as instead of scaling underneath the hanging cables like most Ultimate X competitors do, he climbed to the top of the structure, and dived towards the centre of the X, and the tag team titles, pulling them down for the victory. Daniels would repeat this scary leap years later while being one of the men to portray the Suicide character, and his willingness to risk himself like this only added to the desperations he conveyed to want to once again be a champion.

Once again the tag title reign would not be long though, as at Bound for Glory 06 a month later Styles and Daniels lose the titles back to LAX, this time inside six sides of steel. at the end of the match with Daniels laying prone on the mat, Konnan would push a metal wire coat hanger through the gap in the cage and use it to choke him out. This would take him out of the match, allowing Homicide and Hernandez to double team AJ Styles an pin him. Thats now the second time Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles had lost the titles due to cheating outside of their control. In the space of a few months, Christopher Daniels would win the tag titles twice, both times being the one to earn the win for his team, but he would also be the the one who would suffer from interference leading to the title losses. Maybe for this reason Styles and Daniels would end their team, and the Fallen Angel would return his focus to the X Division.

Things would begin to look up for Daniels on the November 16th episode of Impact, as he would win the X Division title for the third time in a three way match beating his recent tag partner AJ Styles and Chris Sabin. Notably Styles had only won the title one week earlier from Sabin, so Daniels took the title from his own friend, though through fair means. He would retain the title for just over two months, and would lose it at January's Final Resolution pay per view to Chris Sabin, again in a three way match this time with Jerry Lynn involved. Lynn would hit his cradle piledriver on Daniels, but before he could go for the pin Sabin would roll Lynn up, pulling his tights to win the title. Christopher Daniels lost his title while having nothing to do with the decision. This was perhaps the point where Christopher Daniels snapped. Over the past seven months he had won three titles, he lost one due to interference, one due to his partner getting pinned and the third due to his other opponent taking the fall. Could all of this have been the catalyst for the Fallen Angel to decide to make a change?

Following Final Resolution in January, Christopher Daniels would disappear from Impact until March. On impact videos would air teasing his return, and some sort of change. Daniels would emphasise a recurring line, vowing to "sacrifice myself for the sake of what I will become." This line implies that Daniels' recent history had led him to reassess his life and career, and he wouldn't be the same when we saw him next.

The next time we would see Christopher Daniels live in the ring would be at Destination X on March 11th 2007. In a match between Jerry Lynn and Chris Sabin for the X Division title, a familiar looking man in a Sting mask would hit ringside, distracting referee Earl Hebner long enough for Sabin to hit a low blow on Lynn, and win the match retaining his title. Post match the man would unmask revealing himself to be Christopher Daniels, sporting a new beard and a face painted C around his eye. The only reason I'm not going to slag off the C is because Samoa Joe's tribal penis face paint a while later was far worse. He would lay out Sabin and pick up the X Division title he never actually lost, decking Lynn with it, perhaps considering him responsible for that loss. Daniels would then hit Lynn with his former finisher the last rites, more modernly known as a Cross Rhodes, maybe suggesting a return to his roots as the Fallen Angel.

Over the following weeks on Impact, Daniels would repeatedly attack Jerry Lynn, using more hints at an upcoming interaction with Sting, such as the black baseball bat, a long black trench coat, and using the lights going out as a distraction. All of this would lead to a singles match between Daniels and Lynn at Lockdown, where Daniels would win using the last rites. I vaguely this match not meeting my expectations at the time, and Bryan Alvarez' Figure Four Weekly review blames this on them having to follow the famously terrible Chris Harris vs James Storm blindfold match that happened right before this one, and the crowd simply not caring.

On the following weeks Impact, Daniels would win again, this time in a four way match involving Rhino, AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. Two of his most famous rivals, and a former NWA champion in Rhino. Naturally for TNA in this day and age, instead of this rekindling a feud with either Styles or Joe, Daniels would instead begin a storyline with Rhino. Daniels would by the way enter wearing the Sting mask and would win by using a Sting-like baseball bat. If you're wondering by the way, Sting wasn't acknowledging any of this, being involved in his own separate storylines.

On the May 10th Impact, days before the next pay per view Sacrifice, Kurt Angle, Christian Cage and Sting were being interviewed split screen, kind of like the Mark Henry interviews at the end of Rampage. As the segment starts Christopher Daniels is seen talking at Sting, who brushes him off and can be heard saying "now is not the time." Another not very subtle way of showing us that clearly something has been going on between the two behind the scenes.

Days later at Sacrifice (Not that one, the Steiner one was the year after), Chris Daniels would defeat Rhino early on in the night. He would enter wearing a Sting mask and carrying the black baseball bat, which Daniels would use with the referee not looking to get the pin. While the match in itself is not very special, at the time it felt like Christopher Daniels was maybe on his way higher up the card beyond the tag and X divisions, having now beaten a former champion in TNA twice. Post match though Rhino would attack Daniels leaving him bleeding. There would be no further developments with Sting though, as he would be in the main event with Kurt Angle and Christian in a match to crown the first ever TNA World champion. Kurt Angle would win this match, leaving Sting's schedule open for the following month's event, Slammiversary.

On the May 17th Impact Daniels would be interviewed by Jeremy Borash. They show the post match attack by Rhino and Daniels issues an open challenge first blood match, which seems rather daft given Daniels' wound from the pay per view can't have fully healed yet. He cryptically talks about actions and consequences, saying that Sting knows about consequences even if he won't admit it, implying some backstory we frankly might never know about in this era of TNA. Later in the night Daniels' open challenge would be answered by Raven, accompanied by his short lived group Serotonin which is a whole other thing...

The match begins with Daniels wielding his bat, but Raven gets one over on his using a cane. Raven looks to end the match very quickly by pulling a screwdriver out of his gear, but misses Daniels and impales it into the turnbuckle padding. Raven would break his cane in half and attempt to use the jagged edge to make Daniel's bleed, but it would be Daniels who would do this earning the victory. While on the surface this seems like an inconsequential match, its worth noting that in defeating Rhino and now Raven he has beaten two former NWA world champions, further indication that Daniels' star was on the rise. In the next segment Jeremy Borash interviews Sting, who tries to talk about his World title aspirations but it interrupted by the Fallen Angel. Daniel's expresses that he is doing what Sting told him to do and it is working for him, but Sting is adamant that Daniels seems to have misunderstood him and is not going down the right path. At this point we don't know what advice Sting might have actually given so it's hard for us to truly get behind this story, when we are clearly missing important context.

On the May 24th Impact a week later things get more serious between the Icon and the Angel, as in the main event Sting faces Samoa Joe in a qualifier for the King of the Mountain World title match at Slammiversary. During the match Christopher Daniels makes his way toward ringside, and throws the baseball bat to Sting to use. Sting refuses to use it and knocks Daniels off the apron, who retaliates by hitting Sting with the bat unbeknownst to Joe, who hits a samoan drop and pins Sting. 

On May 31st Christopher Daniels is set to wrestle Rhino again, but before he even gets to the ring Sting attacks the Fallen Angel. While we still don't know what was apparently said between the two to start this story, Daniels costing Sting his World title shot is all the information we need to know why Sting is now enraged. In this entirely one sided beating that should have been a sign of things to come, Daniels tried to escape through the crowd but Sting catches him. They brawl backstage, ending with Sting using his bat in revenge. He tells Daniels that he learns his lessons the hard way before walking away.

The next week on June 7th we finally get more of an explanation as to where this story came from. We see a joint interview of both men by Mike Tennay, Daniels states that five months ago when he lost the X division title he was in a dark place in his life, and so went to Sting for advice. We still don't know exactly what advice Sting gave, but the Icon continues to claim that Daniels misunderstood whatever he said. In one rather confusing part Daniels mentions that he now grasps the concepts he was told about including penance, a word Sting denies understanding himself. It's almost like the writer isn't quite getting his point across, whoever that might be bro... Daniels makes one clear point though, he sees things in black and white, and if you aren't with him you are against him, and Sting from his body language is clearly not with him. Daniels promises to make things right between the two of them, leaving Sting doubtful that will happen.

June 14th, three days before Slammiversary, and we see a last chance qualifier for Sundays King of the Mountain match. A six man tag where if a participant in the match is pinned, he will be replaced by the person who defeated them. The match  was supposed to be AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle against Sting, Rhino and Tomko. Right before the match however Tomko doesn't come out, and after his music has played we see him laid out backstage, giving Sting and Rhino a 2 vs 3 handicap.

As the match progresses, Christopher Daniels comes out to be the new third man to team with Sting and Rhino. How this would be allowed mid match is a whole other argument. Sting tags in Daniels, who hits Sting with the last rites, allowing Sting to be pinned. If I can be pedantic about details for a moment, Sting was the illegal man when pinned, but the point to take away is that Daniels has now cost Sting a World title shot twice. We find out in a music video at the end of the show that a singles match between Daniels and Sting is now official for Slammiversary on Sunday.

So here we are, the big final match. Sting vs Christopher Daniels. The long time veteran vs the man on his way up the card. As a fan at the time I was so excited to see this match between two of my favourite wrestlers of the time. Would that excitement be worth it though?

As the Fallen Angel walks to the ring Mike Tennay explains that Sting went down a similar decline years ago, but Daniels misunderstood the advice Sting gave him. I don't know how to feel about this given that the decline Sting suffered was in his own words due to alcohol and painkiller addictions that he overcame. I assume Russo is attempting to tie Stings Christianity after his recovery to the Fallen Angel's Christian inspired yet heel gimmick. Earlier in his career there were subtle religious references in Chris Daniels' ring gear, as he would walk to the ring wearing a robe that resembled a stole that would often be seen worn by a priest.

For maybe the first time since his WCW days, Sting would enter descending from the rafters of the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in front of 3500 fans. Once the match began it was all Sting in control. About a minute in Daniels sends Sting front the apron to the rail on the floor. This could have been a perfect setup for Daniels' trademark Arabian press moonsault where he would bounce his legs off the ropes, but Daniels didn't attempt it. To be fair he later hits it in the ring. Daniels hits Sting with his own Stinger Splash in the corner, but that appears to be his undoing, as Sting doesn't sell it at all. Daniels tries to hit the Angels Wings which Sting quickly blocks, Daniels counters the Stinger Splash, Daniels goes for the last rites but Sting turns it around for a Scorpion Death Drop for the victory. The total match length, 6 and a half minutes, and as was a trope of TNA at the time, Sting celebrated for about 5 seconds before we cut to the next thing.

As a massive Fallen Angel fan, to say I was disappointed was an understatement. I didn't expect Chris Daniels to win, but I hoped for more of a star making performance leading to better things. At the following months Victory Road event Daniels would win an X Division gauntlet, and would soon reunite with Low Ki and Primetime Elix Skipper as the group known as Triple X. By Bound for Glory 2007 he would be firmly back in the X division, losing his title challenge against Jay Lethal. In December 2007 Daniels would win one of the first ever 'Feast or Fired' briefcases, a rubbish version of Money in the bank where three briefcases contained title shots and one had a pink slip in it. Christopher Daniels would be the first recipient of the pink slip, meaning he was fired from TNA. One month later he would return using his masked character Curry Man, who he had been playing in New Japan and Michinoku Pro since 1999. A white American playing a Japanese curry inspired character would likely not fly today, but the post attitude era was a different time...

For many years after Christopher Daniels would continue to work all over the world, returning to TNA and Ring of Honor a few times. As a fan of his I considered him to be the greatest wrestler to never be a World Champion, but he went and proved me wrong by winning the Ring Of Honor world title from Adam Cole at their 15th anniversary event in 2017.

In 2019 Daniels joined AEW as a wrestler but also as in talent relations, a job that Jim Ross held in WWE for many years, and not an easy one at the best of times. He still continues to wrestle on the indies, but his in ring career was halted in May of 2021, when he and Frankie Kazarian lost to the Young Bucks on an episode of AEW Dynamite, meaning that SCU had to split up. During the match Daniels suffered an injury to his left eye causing an immense amount of blood. He wouldn't wrestle again for nine months, and his eye would remain red long afterwards. In an interview with Chris Van Vleit a year later he would describe it at 'just a fleshwound', a rare in wrestling Monty Python reference, and would note that he has full visibility despite the redness. Following his eye injury he would return to AEW to have a match with another ROH pioneer Bryan Danielson on the night Tony Khan announced he had bought the company, a fantastic exhibition that Danielson would win.

In 2023, Christopher Daniels would be inducted into the GCW Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame, inducted by his long time friend Fankie Kazarian. Honestly, no one video can truly capture the legit hall of fame career Christopher Daniels has had. He wrestled in WWF, WCW and ECW. He broke ground in Ring of Honor, TNA, New Japan and pretty much every indie worth their salt. I wish he'd gotten the push he should have in TNA, but his career is nothing to be ashamed of, and he still wrestles today, so maybe we might get one last big match from the Fallen Angel.