Over the past few weeks, there have been a swarm of discussions regarding WWE looking at current talent from Ring of Honor to be a part of the roster. Names such as Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Ray Rowe, and Bobby Fish have all reportedly been in talks with jumping over to WWE from ROH. While Bobby Fish has re-signed , and Adam Cole looks to be staying with ROH for a while longer after commencing his third reign as ROH World Champion at Wrestle Kingdom 11 , O’Reilly and Rowe look to be heading to the WWE Performance Center sooner than later.
Another name that has been discussed is pro wrestling veteran Christopher Daniels. With nearly 25 years of experience in the business, Daniels has performed in WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA, and currently ROH, as well as numerous other promotions in the United States and other countries.
At nearly 47, it would appear as if Daniels is reaching the final stages of his career. However, Daniels is so good as a performer and is in such great ring condition that he has not lost a step from matches he did 15-20 years ago. In fact, he has gotten even better as a character as the years progressed.
Recently conversing with Daniels, he informed me that he has in fact re-signed with Ring of Honor, and will continue to stay devoted to the promotion which gave him new life and continued success.
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“I’m happy to have signed a new contract with Ring of Honor. This company has always treated me with respect, and I look forward to helping the company and its talent continue to grow and produce the best professional wrestling on the planet.”
Helping the talent grow has been apparent, as Daniels decided to assist with developing Japanese upstart Kamaitachi — also known as Hiromu Takahashi — to be the star he is now. Affiliating himself with Daniels in ROH, Takahashi used this relationship to boost his popularity, joining the New Japan Pro Wrestling stable Los Ingobernables de Japon (LIJ) led by current IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito. This decision led him to an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match with KUSHIDA at Wrestle Kingdom 11 , where he became champion for the first time.
Congratulations to @TIMEBOMB1105 ! Your comrades in arms knew you’d complete the mission! #PerfectSoldier pic.twitter.com/gVMkySZKYu
— Christopher Daniels (@facdaniels) January 4, 2017
Daniels has also been in WWE-related discussion regarding topics other than signing with the company. On a recent episode of Something to Wrestle with Bruce Pritchard, it was revealed that Daniels was pegged to be the person who was supposed to be the “Higher Power,” which was ultimately unveiled as Vince McMahon (h/t Bleeding Cool ).
“The original idea was ‘The Fallen Angel’ Christopher Daniels. And then Vince saw him and said, ‘absolutely not’. [McMahon did not like Daniels’] size. [He] just didn’t see it. Chris was working out in California and Chris was working indies and different things an I was a big fan of Chris Daniels too at the time. I liked the ‘Fallen Angel’ gimmick and I want to say we had Chris under a developmental deal for a little while. [He] just didn’t see it. He just looked at him and he didn’t see it. He was dead from the get-go.”
In discussing this with Daniels, he informed me that he never heard about this until everyone starting telling him that Pritchard said that on his podcast. Based on this, it appears as if McMahon shot the idea down even before Daniels knew about it.
Retrospectively, it would have been a very interesting career path if Daniels was indeed the “Higher Power.” However, since that angle, Daniels has experienced a great deal of success in both TNA and ROH, and can say that he has been a part of significant angles with legends such as Sting and Kurt Angle.
Possibly, Daniels could be brought on as a coach for the WWE down the road. However, for now, he will be sticking with ROH.
[Featured Image by Ring of Honor]
