Christopher Daniels spoke with Wrestling Inc for a new interview. Some highlights are below:
On TNA’s Feast or Fired concept: “There were discussions to put my face on the ‘fired’ briefcase instead of the word ‘fired.’ Using it to end somebody’s contract I thought was distasteful. If you’re going to use it as an annual thing, you sort of limit the amount of times you can use it to introduce a new character like they did with me. It certainly painted you into a corner. I felt that unless it was a heel who had run his course.. the concept of firing a babyface as far as the fan reaction, what good is that? I certainly didn’t enjoy it. I got the idea of trying to think outside the box and lend some real life stakes to this. At the same time, there was only a certain number of scenarios that could play out before it got uncomfortable and not entertaining, and that’s not the point.”
On when he knew he was getting the second Feast or Fired briefcase: “The first time I’d pitched Curry Man to them, they responded with Feast or Fired, so I knew that going in. The second time I didn’t know I was going to get the pink slip until I wrestled the match. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me. There was a discussion about that being the end of my TNA contract as well. Circumstances changed as far as me staying there and working as Suicide for a bit and then continuing as myself. A lot of times they don’t really tell people that’s the plan. They didn’t tell Chavo. I heard Shawn talk about how at the very last minute ‘this is it.’ That’s low-class in my opinion. He was trying to make a story out of it if I recall, to get Cody to stick around. It’s sort of entertaining if you’re going to fire a hated heel. Then there’s a consequence that fans can be entertained by. I commend Shawn for volunteering to be that guy, but then for them to fire Cody at the end, it was a poorly handled situation.”‘
On if he ever thought TNA was going off the rails: “Not until I left, honestly. Even when things were going bad and looking back at the last two years of my career, I held out hope that they’d give us a chance to get back to the top of the mountain. Not just as being champions, which at that time made sense, because we were really the only tag team that were established until the Wolves came around. Just being a cog in the machine that was paying attention to you. I was holding out hope for that and in the end I realized they had no plans for that at all. If they wouldn’t have strung us along for that last 6-8 months…I was disappointed. Dixie hit me in the face. They make their decisions at the end of it all is just say that I went out with my head held up even through everything. They pulled me aside the day before I went and wrestled and said they weren’t going to renew my contract, then I had to go out and wrestle a ladder match with the Wolves, and I went and did it.”
On the reports of Sinclair being interested in buying TNA: “I dunno man. If TNA is faltering and need something like that, my first thought goes out to the talents. I don’t want to see any of those people lose a job or an opportunity to put food on the table. I don’t know if that’s the right thing for Sinclair, but I don’t know what their endgame is. I’m not sure what their mentality is. They may be looking to gain content for a new channel. If that’s the case, then great. Sinclair’s got a good sense of what they want to do in pro wrestling. Their management of ROH in recent years has been top notch. The steps we’ve been taking, whether big or small, have been steps forward. If they want to add TNA to the ROH brand, whether it’s consolidating everything under the ROH banner, or keeping TNA as it’s own separate entity, I don’t know. I guess there’s a lot of avenues they could explore to get the most out of it.”
On if he agrees with Austin Aries that TNA needs to drop Dixie Carter: “I certainly think if her mentality is keeping control of the company is keeping it from going forward in a business sense, people need to take a step back and look at that and see what everything is holding people up. If TNA is in such a position that they need to sell now and need a rapid influx of capital, and the thing is holding it up is them being insistent on maintaining control, that speaks for itself.”
On people who compare NXT to ROH: “I think for them to compare NXT to ROH is sort of a compliment to ROH. It points to that change in perception. ROH has never been that company that was based around being a big guy, it was based around talent. If you were a smaller guy, bigger guy, you went out and got yourself over. I don’t know if ROH specifically tempered the construction of NXT or it’s direction in the past couple of years, but you can certainly see the parallels with the way guys are booked, and the way guys are presented in NXT in terms of matches at least. The styles presented are very similar.”
On Chyna’s passing: “I would do dark matches and syndicated matches (with WWF) and had the opportunity to talk with her in the locker room a couple of times. She was a polite lady, very respectful to me. You can’t deny the impact that her career had on wrestling as a whole. She broke down some barriers and I think some of the ladies today owe a debt of gratitude towards her. She blazed a new trail for women in the WWE. I think the outpouring of respect from the ladies in the WWE and who wrestle anywhere, it speaks volumes for their respect for Chyna.”
