TNA wrestler Christopher Daniels spoke with ESPN about a number of topics while promoting this Sunday’s TNA LockDown 2013 PPV where Bad Influence (Daniels and Kazarian) will be facing Bobby Roode and Austin Aries and Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez for the TNA Tag Titles. In the interview, Daniels talks about WWE vs. TNA, singles vs. tag team wrestling, his favorite match with Samoa Joe and AJ Styles, and more. Check out some excerpts below:
Christopher Daniels on the difference between TNA now and 10 years ago:
“I think that with of all the hard work of guys like AJ Styles and James Storm and Bobby Roode, we’ve really opened up the eyes of wrestling fans to where it became conceivable that guys like Kurt Angle and Christian Cage and the Dudley Boyz and Hulk Hogan could come to TNA and make it a better product. If it wasn’t for the work of the originals, guys that left WWE wouldn’t have come to TNA; they would’ve just went on to do their own thing. But because those guys saw the spirit of the homegrown talent, they saw that they could help build and grow something that could be an alternative to what WWE is putting out.”
Christopher Daniels on singles vs. tag team wrestling:
“I think it sort of goes in stages. There are periods of time, in TNA for instance, where two to three years ago you had teams like Beer Money and the Motor City Machine Guns, but for whatever reason, whether it’s injury or through the storyline, these teams break up and move on. Right now, I feel like Frankie and myself are bringing a lot of attention back to the tag-team division. We’ve put our efforts toward being, not only the best tag team in TNA, but in professional wrestling. I think once more teams come to TNA, there will be a lot emphasis on the tag division, and Frankie and I want to be ahead of that.”
Christopher Daniels on Aces and Eights:
“I think that the guys in the back, we’ve got some great guys involved in that group, and it was a great surprise to have Devon come back and be involved with that. It’s rejuvenated his career and puts him in the spotlight that he definitely deserves to be in. For the rest of the locker room, I feel like we’re playing the whole invasion angle that’s always been a very intricate storyline played out through different promotions in the history of professional wrestling. And I feel like the fans are definitely engaged in watching this Aces & Eights group try and run roughshod over TNA. It depends where we go with this over the next couple of months on how this all plays out.”
Christopher Daniels on WWE vs. TNA:
“Of course, you have to understand that the World Wrestling Federation and World Wrestling Entertainment have been around for the better half of 70 years. They’re firmly entrenched, and over the course of that time, they’ve become synonymous with professional wrestling. Impact Wrestling and TNA is only 11 years old. There’s going to become a point where we’re slowly but surely making people aware of our product and letting them know that there is an alternative to WWE. But it’s not an overnight process. We’re making people aware of us, and whether it’s Hulk Hogan or Kurt Angle or Jeff Hardy, whatever name draws the attention first, once people have sampled our product, I feel like if they’re real wrestling fans, they definitely stay involved and stay interested in guys like Bobby Roode and myself and Frankie Kazarian and AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. Once they watch, they become a fan. So while I would love us to be as popular and as watched as World Wrestling Entertainment, it’s going to take time, and I’m in it for the long haul and so is the rest of the locker room.”
Check out the full interview here.
