Christopher Daniels Talks About Life After TNA, WWE Alternatives And More

Former TNA star Christopher Daniels recently spoke with Vaughn Johnson of Philly.com. The full interview can be found at this link. Below are some highlights:

VJ: How have things been now more than a year removed from leaving TNA Wrestling?

CD: Well, I feel like we were very lucky that I think the last year, year-and-a-half in TNA, I think people were sort of disappointed in how we were used. So when we left TNA, there was a good demand for us as a team … not just in Ring of Honor, but on the independent scene and overseas. I feel like we’ve been very lucky and will continue to be lucky that Frankie and I have had the opportunity to wrestle a lot of great team out on the independent scene and in Ring of Honor. It’s cool that we can sort of bring our act together around the world, around the United States to a lot of the independent companies and continue to do what we love to do.

VJ: What are your thoughts on the wrestling promotions that are on television here in the United States?

CD: I think it’s a great time to be a wrestling fan to have all of these different alternatives to WWE, and not to say that WWE is bad in any way. WWE is what it is. It’s the model of professional wrestling. There’s a lot of great stuff happening on WWE television right now, but there are a lot of alternatives as well like TNA, Ring of Honor, Lucha Underground coming into play in the last year and New Japan finally getting their foot in the door here in the United States. I’ve had the opportunity to watch a couple of episodes of that television show and I think it’s just a matter of time with WrestleKingdom 9 being broadcast on pay-per-view here in the States, and that television show, that New Japan is going to make a move to try to do more things in the United States whether it’s doing more crossover dates with Ring of Honor or doing something on their own.

VJ: You mention how that’s it’s a great time for the fans, but how is it for the wrestlers? How are they feeling about the current landscape in wrestling?

CD: I think that a lot of the guys that are at the independent level are a lot of the guys looking to branch out on television and there’s a lot of opportunity for them with Lucha Underground, with TNA moving to Destination America, with Ring of Honor still going strong on Sinclair’s syndicated stations. There’s a lot of opportunity to break out and get on television in one or more of these companies.

Then you can’t forget that the strides that NXT has taken to become not just the feeder system for the WWE, but it’s own brand. I know that they just had their third or fourth special recently and there’s not a bad word about NXT going around anywhere. Everybody’s thrilled about the guys that are in NXT, the action that they see and the type of show that NXT is, and that also being an alternative to the things that you see on WWE.

VJ: Obviously, you’ve been around the block a few times, but like you said, you’ve got a finite number of bumps on your bump card. How much longer do you think you can go in the ring full time?

CD: As long as I want. Right now, I don’t see an end yet. That’s crazy to say, but if someone told me that I would be wrestling four days a week for the foreseeable future, I ‘d be fine with that. I actually challenge people to try and get me to the point where I’m too beat up to wrestle or I’m too tired to wrestle. I want to wrestle. Right now, I feel good. I’m always actively looking for bookings and trying to continue to get better and do more and try to expand my repertoire and just continue to make this career what it is. I’m not looking to retire anytime soon and I’m challenging promotions out there to try to work me to death. I dare you.