Christopher Daniels on Bad Influence, Career Longevity and APW’s Roland Alexander

Fred: I’m joined by a very special guest. He’s a TNA Impact Wrestling legend, the original King of the Indies before it was cool to be the King of the Indies, the man with the rear that makes all the girls cheer, or so he told me off the air, the master of making the appletini and one half of arguably the best tag team in wrestling today, Bad Influence: the Fallen Angel, Christopher Daniels. Mr. Daniels, how are you doing today?

Christopher Daniels: Greetings and salutations, Frederick. I’m doing great, and I just want to say that if you’re arguing about whether Bad Influence is the best tag team in the business today, you’re losing that argument. Trust me.

Fred: Point taken, sir. You just had a big win over Joseph Park. As someone who’s been so successful throughout his career, does it ever get old to win, even against a rookie like Joseph Park?

Christopher Daniels: When you say “big win over Joseph Park,” I assume you mean per ounce. Yes, it was the largest win of my career. The only way it would have been bigger is if I’d ever wrestled and beaten Yokozuna. But no, I never get tired of winning. Winning is awesome, it fuels me, and it’s the whole point of this deal, so I have no problem winning continuously and often.

Fred: Turning Point is next week. As of right now, you and Kazarian aren’t scheduled for a match, but could we see Bad Influence make their presence felt?

Christopher Daniels: Of course. Let’s be honest: Bad Influence is the most entertaining part of Impact Wrestling today, and a television show without Bad Influence is ready to have the channel changed. I’m interested to see Magnus and Samoa Joe, and Bobby Roode and James Storm, especially Bobby Roode, my ego partner. I’m also interested in Joseph Park vs. Abyss. I’d love to see a train run through the middle of that ring at the exact moment those two behemoths lock up for the very first time.

Fred: You’ve always been charismatic and very good on the mic, but these last couple of years with Kazarian, you guys have really hit your stride, particularly Kazarian, who finally broke out of his shell. What clicked when you started teaming?

Christopher Daniels: I think it was an opportunity they finally gave us. I’ve always been this charismatic, and I’m sure Frankie feels the same way, but we’d never really been given the opportunity to go out there and be ourselves. About two years ago, Frankie and I saw the writing on the wall for tag teams in TNA. Beer Money had just split up, the Motor City Machine Guns were battling injury, and we saw there weren’t really any plans in the pipeline for either of us as singles, so we decided to pool our efforts and try to be the next Beer Money or the next Motor City Machine Guns for TNA. They gave us that opportunity a year and a half ago, and ever since, we’ve been running roughshod over not just Impact Wrestling but tag team wrestling. As far as breaking out of our shells, it’s just a matter of being ourselves on a live microphone or in a backstage vignette and turning ourselves up to 11, 11 and a half, sometimes 12, depending on the speakers.

Fred: How much creative input do you have, particularly with Throwback Thursday, when you came out as the Road Warriors?

Christopher Daniels: Throwback Thursday is 1,000 percent our idea. Actually, 95 percent of the Throwback Thursdays have been Frankie’s idea. The only co-effort was really the Legion of Boom. Throwback Thursday came about because one of us said, “Do we have the guts to wear Zubaz in the ring and wrestle in them?” The answer, of course, was yes, and every Throwback Thursday since has been, “Do we have the guts to dress as fill in the blank?” As for creative control, TNA and the creative guys have been very cool about giving us blueprints of what they want to see and letting us fill in the blanks, so it becomes a Bad Influence vignette instead of something any other guy would do. They’ve let us find our own voice on the microphone, and it’s been awesome to have that collaboration with the creative team over the last two years.

Fred: A few weeks back, I asked AJ Styles and Garett Bischoff who the most entertaining guy in TNA is, and they both said Eric Young. Given your beef with Eric Young and Joseph Park, do you take offense to that?

Christopher Daniels: I don’t. I’ll agree Eric Young is very entertaining and a very funny guy, whatever problems I have with him in a wrestling ring notwithstanding. In the past two years, especially with his television show, he’s branched out and become a force to be reckoned with. But if you pull Eric Young aside and ask who’s as entertaining as him behind the scenes, he’ll definitely tell you Bad Influence.

Fred: I also talked to the BroMans and my buddy Robbie E, who still says I’m not on the list. He said the BroMans are the best dancers in TNA, which I find a little preposterous when I see you doing your thing to the Bad Influence theme.

Christopher Daniels: He just means exotic dancing, and I’m not one to venture into that foray. But if that floats his skirt, God bless him. Good for both of them.

Fred: You were part of WCW’s last days, right?

Christopher Daniels: I guess, though I was sitting at home collecting a paycheck for the last three months of the company. That was their decision. Both times I was under contract with WCW, they didn’t use me very often. They never really had a spot creatively for me, and I just sort of fell through the cracks.

Fred: How did you mentally bounce back and keep progressing? As a kid, I remember reading in Pro Wrestling Illustrated about two independent stars who never really got a shot at the big time: Reckless Youth and the Fallen Angel, Christopher Daniels. What made you keep going after the demise of WCW and ECW?

Christopher Daniels: I figured something was going to come along. Part of it was that I didn’t really have anything I wanted to fall back on, and I was still successful and staying busy. Around ’98 or ’99, when I became a full-time professional wrestler instead of wrestling on weekends with a full-time job, I was doing well with my independent schedule in the United States and going to Japan. I was earning a very good living, so even when WCW and ECW closed, there were still plenty of opportunities for me to earn a living as a professional wrestler. It may not have been on a very well-lit stage, but I was earning my money, and that was the bottom line for me. When I got into professional wrestling, I always said my goal was to make a living doing what I wanted to do, and since the middle of 1999, I’ve been fortunate enough to do that.

Fred: You’re also one of the pioneers of Ring of Honor, but before that, there was the King of the Indies tournament and All Pro Wrestling, run by Roland Alexander, who unfortunately passed away recently. For younger fans who may not be familiar with him, can you talk about the impact he had on you and others on the West Coast scene?

Christopher Daniels: Roland Alexander was very passionate about professional wrestling. He was a student of the game who loved watching all forms of wrestling, in the States, Japan and Mexico. He grew up watching the California scene of the Roy Shire era, and that affected his outlook as a promoter. He always had the history of professional wrestling in mind and wanted to add to it rather than reinvent the wheel. He paid homage to the past and had a very old-school mentality, and it showed not just in how he promoted his shows but in how he helped train the guys who came out of APW, like Mike Modest, Donovan Morgan, Robert Thompson, Boyce LeGrande and Vinny Massaro, all guys I had the opportunity to work with. Roland was never really one to physically get in the ring, but he had the mentality to guide those guys in the proper direction. For a long time, there wasn’t a lot of wrestling on the West Coast making headlines on the independent scene, and APW was one of the few that rose above that obscurity and made a name for itself.

Fred: Do you think that scene could make a comeback?

Christopher Daniels: Of course. Places like Pro Wrestling Guerrilla in Southern California are consistently putting out great wrestling. It’s definitely a destination for guys on the independent scene who want to make waves. Look at the PWG roster and the guys who come in every month. It’s a who’s who of the big names on the independent scene. As for All Pro Wrestling, it depends on Roland Alexander’s family and the guys still in charge, whether they can continue past his passing. There’s a lot of talent and a lot of places to go in California. It’s just a matter of guys continuing to put their nose to the grindstone and put out good wrestling that gets that word-of-mouth buzz.

Fred: Is there anybody you have your eye on who’s ready for a shot with TNA or WWE?

Christopher Daniels: It’s sort of unfair, because I don’t get the opportunity to wrestle on or watch the independent scene. The closest I get is keeping an eye on guys through Ring of Honor and PWG, and it’s not really fair to call them independent, especially Ring of Honor, with its television deal and promoting throughout the United States. But you hear about guys like Adam Cole, the current Ring of Honor and PWG champion, Tommaso Ciampa, the Young Bucks, Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards and Jay Lethal, who’s still doing great in Ring of Honor. Anybody making a name in Ring of Honor and PWG is wrestling the top wrestlers in independent wrestling, and Ring of Honor keeps adding stations under the Sinclair banner, so it’s just a matter of time before they get more national exposure.

Fred: If there’s one thing TNA doesn’t get enough credit for, it’s putting smaller guys at the top of the card. It didn’t matter whether they were big or small. If they could work, they were at the top of the card, and Ring of Honor has done the same thing. How proud are you to see the evolution of pro wrestling, where guys like yourself, AJ Styles, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan are main-eventing Raw, SmackDown, Impact and pay-per-views?

Christopher Daniels: I’ve just been fortunate enough to keep working hard, getting better and working with better guys. Professional wrestling has gotten past the idea that bigger is better. Yes, you’ve got guys like John Cena, who’s 240 or 250 pounds, but there are also guys like Austin Aries, a smaller guy who 20 years ago might not have been in the position he’s in now. His work ethic and in-ring work took what some people saw as a negative and made people forget it. People don’t care about the size of the guy so much as what he brings to the ring, whether it’s his in-ring work or his charisma. In any fighting sport, boxing or MMA, a lot of times the smaller guys are the most exciting. I’ve got at least 30 pounds on Georges St-Pierre, and he’s probably the No. 1 fighter in the world. Floyd Mayweather is one of the smaller guys in boxing, and he’s probably the top boxer today. The days of needing to be 6-foot-5 and 280 pounds are sort of past.

Fred: Do you think MMA, with smaller stars like GSP and Anderson Silva, helped convince pro wrestling promoters they can push guys who aren’t 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds?

Christopher Daniels: I think it just reestablished it, because it was happening in pro wrestling before mixed martial arts became as popular as it has. Go back to Shawn Michaels and Sean Waltman. They reached their success long before MMA was the worldwide phenomenon it is. Professional wrestling had already established that it doesn’t matter what size a guy is. If he’s talented and entertaining, whether he’s 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds or 6-foot-9 and 300 pounds, pay attention to him.

Fred: I’m not calling you old, Mr. Daniels, but you don’t look like a guy in his early 40s, and you certainly don’t move like a guy who’s been wrestling for two decades. What the hell is your secret?

Christopher Daniels: I sold my soul to the devil when I was young, so I’ve remained the same for the last 20 years. Honestly, I wish I could tell you there was a secret other than hard work and wrestling smart. I’ve never been the highest risk-taker in the ring. I’ve always had the mindset that I would never do something I couldn’t do every night of the week if I had to. I’ve dabbled in high-flying and tried to be a very well-rounded wrestler, but I’ve never been one to defy death on a nightly basis, so I’ve been very fortunate to avoid major injury. In the last couple of years, I’ve been very cognizant of minimizing the damage I take, and I’ve been taking better care of myself with my workouts. I’ve gotten into yoga, DDP Yoga, full-body workouts and high-intensity interval training, which keep your stamina up. It doesn’t necessarily build a Brock Lesnar body, but I’ve refined the tools I’ve been given to the point where I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life. If I were asked to do a six-night-a-week schedule, I feel like I could do it. I’m in it for the long term. It’s been 20-plus years, and I don’t see an end in sight.

Fred: You’ve also been doing very well on the media front. Every time I get a press release about Christopher Daniels or Austin Aries, your publicist, Mark, is a hustler. Why haven’t more wrestlers and MMA fighters who are independent contractors followed your lead and gotten publicists?

Christopher Daniels: Public relations isn’t something you can see or touch, so it’s a hard concept for some guys to understand. As a professional wrestler, you are your product, and it’s hard for them to rationalize putting that much effort into their media presence. I’ve been very fortunate that Mark has been very loyal and very tenacious about getting my name out there, and I think the amount of press I’ve done for TNA and myself in the last couple of years speaks to his work.

Fred: Do you have time for a few fan questions? Eugene asks: “Were you mad that Tazz called you out for drinking non-alcoholic appletinis?”

Christopher Daniels: When did he do that? I had no idea, so no, I wasn’t upset, because I didn’t know about it. And he knows better than that. My appletini is delightful. It has just enough alcohol to be an appletini without being green water.

Fred: Terry Allen Jr. asks: “When did you realize you had the best moonsault ever?”

Christopher Daniels: From the very beginning, Terry. Anybody who does it as good as me should call it the best moonsault ever, but unfortunately, no one does it as good as I do. And by the way, I’m a big fan of your dad. I don’t know if he’s related to Magnum T.A., but let’s pretend he is, and hopefully he’s got an awesome mustache, too.

Fred: You’ve dabbled in acting. Could we see you in any movies?

Christopher Daniels: I hope so. As someone with an acting background living in Southern California, I audition as often as I can, but acting, like any other worthwhile endeavor, takes 100 percent of your time, and I’m still 100 percent committed to my professional wrestling career. Should that change, there’s no reason I couldn’t parlay my hard work in pro wrestling into an acting career. It’s a matter of pounding the pavement, auditioning as often as I can and getting better with every project I’m fortunate enough to land.

Fred: David Santiago asks where he can get the cool Fallen Angel-style gloves.

Christopher Daniels: Those are handmade, so you can buy your own glove and edit it accordingly. They don’t sell them, probably because the parent-teacher council or whatever would frown upon it.

Fred: We’re about the fans here, so Teresa asks: “You have a nice derriere. Do you squat? Any advice for men who want the rear that all the girls cheer?”

Christopher Daniels: Of course I squat. You can’t have the rear that all the girls cheer, because it’s mine and I own it, but to get a comparable rear end, definitely do squats and lunges. A lot of it is genetics, guys, so you’re just stuck. I can’t help you.

Fred: Is there any tag team outside of TNA you’d like to test yourselves against?

Christopher Daniels: I’d love to see the Young Bucks return to TNA. Right now, they’re on probably the best tear of any tag team in the world. They’re IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, Dragon Gate USA tag champions and PWG tag champions, and they’re living their dream on the independent scene, but I’d love for them to come back to TNA and get that national exposure. A Bad Influence vs. Young Bucks feud would be great television and great wrestling.

Fred: Your boy Bobby Roode is in the world title tournament. Could we see Christopher Daniels back in the world title picture?

Christopher Daniels: Absolutely. Despite the fact that Frankie and I are the best tag team in the business, we still have our singles goals. We don’t have to give up our tag team to become singles champions. It’s a matter of opportunity, and right now, with Bobby Roode, James Storm, Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy fighting to become the new TNA World Champion, whoever wins will find a list of guys who are ready to become world champion if the opportunity arises, and two of those handsome men are Frankie Kazarian and this guy.

Fred: Ben asks the question you probably get all the time: What’s your greatest match?

Christopher Daniels: It’s hard to say greatest, but the one that, as soon as it was over, I felt did the best job of putting across what we had in mind, and the most well-received, was probably the three-way with AJ and Samoa Joe at Unbreakable. Eight years later, people still talk about it as one of the best in the company’s history. It stands the test of time, and a lot of that has to do with timing. The fans at that time wanted to see three guys step up and show the world they were ready to be main event players, and I think we did that.

Fred: Definitely a classic, and personally one of my all-time favorites. J. George asks: “Do you know the identity of the Friends of AJ Styles who appear in those video packages on Impact Wrestling, and if you don’t, do you think one of them could be Claire Lynch?”

Christopher Daniels: I don’t know many friends of AJ Styles. Frankie and I used to be friends of AJ Styles, but we weren’t invited to join this particular group. I hear there’s a newsletter and jackets, but I don’t have one. And I don’t think Claire Lynch is a friend of anybody involved with TNA.

Fred: Fair point. What’s one piece of advice you’d give an aspiring pro wrestler?

Christopher Daniels: A couple of pieces. First, stay in school and be prepared in case a career in professional wrestling doesn’t work out, because so few guys who go into it can make a living. If you decide to go into professional wrestling, find a reputable school with a trainer who’s been successful in professional wrestling, because if you were a C-plus student, odds are you’ll be a C-plus teacher, and you’ll probably never get any students better than C-plus. Three of the best schools off the top of my head are Lance Storm’s academy in Canada, the 3D Academy in Florida and the Ring of Honor school. They have guys who’ve been to the dance and know what it takes to break through.

Once you’re ready to wrestle matches, wrestle as many different people for as many different promoters in as many different places as you can, because it’s not until you’re comfortable with yourself as a professional wrestler that you become a commodity to a promoter. If you’re always wrestling the same guys where you trained, you’re only going to be as good as the best guy in your group, so branch out and wrestle complete strangers. I did an independent show in North Carolina this past month, and I told the guys that once you can walk into a locker room, meet a wrestler for the first time and, hours later, go out and have an entertaining match, that’s when you become a commodity, because promoters know that no matter who they put you with or what style of match they want, you’ll entertain and be worth paying to see. I pride myself on being able to put a good match together with anybody, and that’s how I got to do as many independent shows as I did, especially on the East Coast, before TNA and Ring of Honor came around.

Fred: Wise words from one of the best. Where can fans find you online?

Christopher Daniels: I don’t have Facebook. I’m not online often enough to do Facebook very well, but I’m on Twitter at @FACDaniels. FAC stands for Fallen Angel Christopher. You’d be surprised how many people don’t know that. You can see me every week on ImpactWrestling.com, especially on the Impact 365 site, where I’m always entering wacky videos of what Bad Influence does behind the scenes. Other than that, stop following me around, folks. Sheesh.

Fred: Can we get any dance lessons from you? I’m sure people would want to learn how to dance like Bad Influence.

Christopher Daniels: I don’t do that stuff for free.