Christopher Daniels On Wrestling At 48 Years Old, Who To Watch Out For In ROH
Christopher Daniels spoke with Monsters and Critics on wrestling at 48 years old, guys to watch for in ROH, and his latest ROH run. Here are some of the highlights:
How his latest run with ROH compare to his previous:
"I was there in 2011 and left right when Sinclair bought the company. I came back in 2014 with Frankie [Kazarian] and it was different because over those three years, Sinclair brought Ring of Honor from a company that was just starting to do syndicated television. In those three years, they brought them to the point where they were doing live pay-per-views, which is where Frankie and I debuted at their first broadcast pay-per-view.
It was great to get back. It was different because over the course of my career there, I'd sort of been by myself, but I came back with Frankie, who was the best partner I have ever had. It put a different dynamic into what we were doing and what I brought to the company, anyway. Over the course of the last four years, Frankie and I have held the tag team titles twice and just recently we were the six-man tag team champions with Scorpio Sky. We have been very successful, and it has been very beneficial to the three of us."
What wrestlers to watch out for in ROH:
"The first guy I have to talk about is Scorpio Sky. We were very fortunate to get Scorpio as a part of Ring of Honor and to bring him in as part of SoCal Uncensored with me and Frankie. I mean, he's been wrestling for 15 years but I feel like people weren't really aware of him because he hadn't had that breakout performance on a national stage. In the last year in Ring of Honor, people have started to see that Scorpio is, hands down, one of the best guys on the planet. I feel like whatever the future holds for him and us, as SoCal Uncensored, no matter what happens, Scorpio is going to be a big part of Ring of Honor for a very long time.
"Another guy that I feel has the world in front of him as far as wrestling goes is Adam Page. In the last couple of years as part of Bullet Club, people have started to see Adam grow as a performer and as a wrestler. It is tough too because there are so many dynamic personalities in Bullet Club that, for a while, it seemed that Adam was in the background. Now, he sort of stands out front and he is one of the dynamic personalities that people have come to expect from Bullet Club. He has become one of the more popular guys and certainly one of the most talented guys that Ring of Honor has had in the last couple of years. There is probably going to be championship gold in his future."
Putting on great matches at 48 years old:
"It is not an age thing for me. It is, for me in my head, I have always tried to do the things that I know I can do no matter what part of the match it was in. I've always told other wrestlers that, in terms of staying safe and staying smart, you do the things that you can do whether it is the first five minutes of the match or the last five minutes of the match. For me, I have been very cognizant of taking very calculated risks. I am not a high flier in the sense that I take those high risks in every part of my match. I wrestle what I feel is a very safe style for me. That might be comical to an outside eye to see some of the things I do at the age of 48. It's something I feel comfortable doing and I feel safe doing.
"Whatever acrobatic things that I do that seems high risk to other people, to me it is a very calculated risk. Those are the risks that I take any time I wrestle. I know that no matter what I am doing ? if it seems dangerous ? it is something I know I can do 10 times out of 10. I have been fortunate to avoid the accidental injuries that come and go in everybody's career. I keep my risks at a minimum in my head. That is something all pro wrestlers have to learn. There are things they can do every time and not suffer from fatigue or mistake and keep it within that risk factor."
Daniels also discussed "All In." You can check out the full interview by clicking here.