AEW star and former multi-time ROH and IMPACT world champion Christopher Daniels recently joined the Refin It Up podcast to discuss a wide range of topics, which included the Fallen Angel discussing how he would have been at this year’s Slammiversary PPV had it not been for an NJPW commitment. Highlights are below.
How IMPACT wanted him to be apart of Slammiversary but he had a commitment with NJPW:
They approached me to be a part of the Slammiversary that weekend but I had already committed to New Japan for that weekend and so that was why I wasn’t at Slammiversary, and you know, I’m disappointed. I had made a commitment to New Japan and the stuff I’m doing with New Japan STRONG right now is very important to me but I would be remiss in saying that it didn’t sting a little bit to know that I was gonna miss the 20th anniversary of Slammiversary and to see Frankie [Kazarian] and Chris Sabin and the guys on the team for Team TNA or Team IMPACT. It felt good to know that those guys were representing the company that meant so much to our careers and I know for a fact Frankie was very thrilled to get an opportunity to be in the ring with Chris Sabin on that show and for you [Brian Hebner] to be the referee for that as well, it also sort of made everything full circle after the careers that you’ve had at IMPACT.
Recalls getting knocked silly during his Last Man Standing match with AJ Styles at the 2012 Destination X PPV:
I’m not disappointed in this match but it’s not our best match [Daniels vs. AJ Styles at TNA Destination X 2012] because, and this is probably the first time I’ve talked about this in public or in a public forum. But there’s a point during the match where I get knocked stupid and you [Brian Hebner] were the referee and I’m almost positive, you might remember this, but there’s a moment where AJ does this move. It’s basically a suplex that turns into a neck breaker and the minute I hit the mat, I sort of remember this, I remember saying, ‘Where am I? What happened? What’s next?’ And I can swear that I looked up at you and I was like, ‘Hey, where are we at? What happened?’ And after the match was over, I talked to AJ and I was like, ‘Hey man, I think I got knocked stupid in there for a hot second.’ I finished the match but if you look back at it, you could see near the very end, there’s some clunky moments, some not so smooth transitions and part of that is because I wasn’t quite sure where I was and so I think that’s one of the reasons why you said three or three-quarter stars or whatever. Well, a lot of the flow at the end of the match suffered because I was sort of a step behind what was going on. So, there’s some stuff in there in that match that didn’t go so well for myself personally and you know, there’s no one to blame except myself. For whatever reason, I got gonked. I finished the match, I probably shouldn’t have. In this day and age, you probably should have stopped that match but ten years ago, who knew? So there it was, I got gonked, I was sort of loopy for a second, finished the match and if I recall, that was the beginning of sort of the jealousy angle that we retold with me and AJ.
(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling
)