christopther daniels...

[Chainsaw]

go2sleep said:

yeah, Ki,Daniels,Rhino, and Killings were all in Japan at NJPW

Ah, well that explains it.

[The Ichi]

One of my favourites, as evident in my avatar.

I'm not sure I buy the "not over with casual fans" argument. Last year he seemed over as a babyface. Granted he was teamed with AJ, but I still think he's worth a shot. I rarely watch TNA anymore these days, though, so I don't know what's going on with him.

[messiah]

evilmasterbetty said:

I honestly think it's because he's like the Kane of TNA. Daniels would rather put over younger guys than lobby himself to be a top guy. So even if he were offered, he'd probably say "Push AJ/Joe/Christian etc." instead.

I think talent wise he could, but I don't think he would ever do it.

If you watch the shoot with Samoa Joe and CM Punk, they basically credit Daniels for being one of their biggest teachers and supporters. Essentially that whole ROH crew owe an incredible debt to Daniels -- he gave us the new generation.

I love Daniels, I would love to see him pushed to World Title status because he could so do it. I mean, he could do it as face or heel, he's just that talented. He can go from well dressed egomaniac to religious zealot and everybody believes.

He just seems like an incredibly humble guy, who puts others before himself, and that combined with his talent just means he's a guy I respect the hell out of. I would love to see that translate to a main event push someday.

[Zane]

Honestly needs to be a world champion. ROH passed him up for all those years and now TNA is following suit.

[Tapout]

evilmasterbetty said:

I honestly think it's because he's like the Kane of TNA. Daniels would rather put over younger guys than lobby himself to be a top guy. So even if he were offered, he'd probably say "Push AJ/Joe/Christian etc." instead.

I think talent wise he could, but I don't think he would ever do it.

From what I've heard, yeah, the guy doesn't mind making others look good. He's supposed to be very generous, and I don't think there's been a wrestler who's ever said anything bad about the guy.

I'm sure as long as he stays healthy he'll get his shot at some point, but for now, he seems happy making new stars.

[Z-A Sandbaggin' Son of a b!%@h]

This thread makes me remember a question I had from last night... why was Road Dogg wearing a Rhino t-shirt?

[Kae]

I think they might be planning to have him feud with Black Machismo. So, he could become X-Division champ soon. That would be a start, despite how the X Div is being berried lately.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Didn't he have a title match against Jarrett once? I seem to remember that it was Raven's debut in TNA...

Anyways, I would love to see Daniels hold the heavyweight title for a while. I think he could deliver a great match against anyone in TNA, bar none. I was hoping his 'stalking Sting' storyline would have paid off in something better than reforming XXX (hey, I'm not against pushing Low-Ki/Senshi, but I wasn't missing Ekipper at all).

Frankly, I'd rather see Daniels than Kaz.

[kickassforumguyme]

His heads too big and his arms are too short

[slasher911]

I'm afraid, if the current trend continues, we won't see any X-Division wrestler ever hold the TNA Title in the foreseeable future (Angle doesn't count as an X guy, by the way). I highly doubt we'll see another Styles run, and if they haven't gone through with the Joe run by now, I'm not sure they ever will. So, I don't think Daniels' will ever have a shot in hell at that belt, no matter how much he deserves it.

And I'm not sure I agree with the 'fans don't usually care about Daniels' thing. He's actually a pretty good draw on the indy scene (the locals in my area have had attendance double whenever he's on the card).

[robferatu]

To be a top guy you don't have to carry the promotion. I mean look at Randy Orton he's the top guy in the WWE(if only be default)and he's certainly not carrying the promotion.

To be honest I don't know why Christopher Daniels has never been a top guy in TNA, especially before they started bringing in former WWE talent by the truck loads.

I suppose he's just a victim of constantly getting lost in the shuffle.

[H-Fist]

Here's the SAT (Standard Achievement Test, not Jose and Joel Maximo) analogy for why Chris Daniels isn't a top guy:

Fallen Angel: TNA :: Million Dollar Man: WWF in the 80s

Very few people paid for the PPV or the ticket to see Chris Daniels or Ted Dibiase. However, they could both always be relied upon to get an awesome match out of The Guy, be him a top draw or the next big thing. TNA has used Daniels sort of like that, in the upper-midcard. He isn't a "Big Name" (read WWE-made talent) so he can't be that guy. He could certainly be up there (a little undersized, but whatever). But TNA doesn't have a use for a Dibiase/Daniels type.

[comahan]

He was a multiple time X Champ back when the X Title meant a hell of a lot more than the World title and was main eventing shows, so thats good enough for me.

["Nature Boy" Ric Moranis]

Okay. Leaving myself open to the risk of making a terrible analogy, IMO, Daniels is kind of like a veteran utility infielder on a baseball team. He can play 2nd, SS, and 3rd (if needed), maybe CF/LF, he's technically sound, does a great job, doesn't screw up, you can always count on him. You'd never fire/cut him. But if it's the 9th inning during the playoffs, and you need a homer...not a single/walk...maybe you pinch hit for him. For whatever reason, IMO, he's not as easily placeable to make a jump to singles main-eventer as a Samoa Joe, AJ, or even maybe a Kaz or Lethal (eventually). Something's missing.

I'm not saying he doesn't have charisma (he does), and he's not a great worker (he is), there's just something about him that lends itself to a constant stream of pushes towards the top that get aborted, but it's never a travesty when it happens (at least, IMO).

TNA has set him up to be a major main-event player on at least three occasions. One being when he debuted and attacked Jarrett at the end of one of the early Nashville shows. Another being the excellent Joe/AJ/Daniels feud, and then the whole truncated Daniels/Sting angle. But he's at his best in a tag team role, and I think they've just fallen into that line of thinking. They (Jeff Jarrett especially, because he's the one booking constant through Daniels' pushes) like him enough to make him seem like a big deal. Then they use him to elevate other guys (AMW twice, AJ, Samoa Joe, LAX, etc...wouldn't consider Sting as an "elevation").

It's kind of a weird wrestling curse when you're like Daniels and can have above-average matches with just about any opponent, but you're not yet a humongous super-duper star. IMO, Daniels slips into that category like a Tully Blanchard/Bobby Eaton/Terry Taylor/Dean Malenko/Jerry Lynn/Brad Armstrong.

I think it was Scott Hall that once said in a shoot that the worst thing the "office" can say about you is that you're just a "good hand". By that, he was saying you wanna be a really good worker, but not so good that all the bookers will use you for is to make suckier people look better than they actually are...at your expense. Does that make any sense? I think Daniels falls into that category...but there's nothing wrong with that either, because those type of guys are always employed (moreso than the Scott Halls and far suckier workers of the world), and can work as agents until they're 60 if they want.

Everyone can try to become the best worker they can be, but not everyone can be world champion. I'm not saying I wouldn't like to see Daniels eventually win it once (I would), but I doubt it will ever happen. And it doesn't seem like Daniels cares, he's never one of the guys you hear about that's "unhappy" and wants a release. He just shows up, clocks in, and puts on great matches.

[The Lach is very tired]

If you ignore the Joe/Angle clusterf*** Daniels is still the only man to defend the X title in the main event of a TNA PPV. That to me speaks volumes. He should get a world title run.

[hollywood]

To all the "mainstream fans don't like him" arguments, I just have to ask: Do you HONESTLY think they liked Jarrett better? Nevermind my ongoing criticism that Jarrett doesn't belong anywhere near the main event scene--except maybe in the occasional indy show. Do you really think fans are literally MORE into Jeff Jarrett than Christopher Daniels?

I'm not going to argue that he's more over than Jarrett (even if I do think he's ten times better), but I don't think Jarrett is lightyears ahead of Daniels in popularity by any means. Not today, anyway.

[toodarkmark]

Its sad to see Daniels buried in the XXX storyline. But I really dont think it has anything to do with them bringing in ex WWE guys. For those who dont watch it and just read forums or news, its a much different experience. Watching it you dont get all the negativity you get on a board. So before you judge it, you should watch it.

They had Daniels in a push with Sting, and it seemed to be getting over but than suddenly XXX came along which made NO sense at all. Since their booking has been making alot more sense lately, hopefully they find a place for Daniels to be pushed back into world title status. But also, they need a mid-card title like the US title and Daniels might be the perfect guy to be the first champion and get his name back out there.

Ive seen both Indie and TNA crowds pop for Daniels, so I dont buy it at all, this talk of him not being marketable or carrying a company. He is someone who gets people over, but he is money and a star in my opinion. I think he's a victim of him being TOO nice and playing NO politics.

I could see Daniels turning face and joining Abyss in his war with all those lame evil magic characters.

[thestinger]

I don't even buy that he's not over with indy fans. That doesn't hold with what I've seen.

I've been to two TNA house shows, one in New York the other in New Jersey.

In Jersey Daniels was the second most over person on the card. Only Joe got louder chants.

In New York he was the third most over guy. Only Kurt Angle and AJ Styles got bigger pops. He got an ovation about the level of LAX.

And although I've never been to an ROH show, the handful of DVDs I've seen always have him as hugely over.

[Kevin Hamilton]

aaaaaaaaa said:

Okay. Leaving myself open to the risk of making a terrible analogy, IMO, Daniels is kind of like a veteran utility infielder on a baseball team. He can play 2nd, SS, and 3rd (if needed), maybe CF/LF, he's technically sound, does a great job, doesn't screw up, you can always count on him. You'd never fire/cut him. But if it's the 9th inning during the playoffs, and you need a homer...not a single/walk...maybe you pinch hit for him. For whatever reason, IMO, he's not as easily placeable to make a jump to singles main-eventer as a Samoa Joe, AJ, or even maybe a Kaz or Lethal (eventually). Something's missing.

I'm not saying he doesn't have charisma (he does), and he's not a great worker (he is), there's just something about him that lends itself to a constant stream of pushes towards the top that get aborted, but it's never a travesty when it happens (at least, IMO).

TNA has set him up to be a major main-event player on at least three occasions. One being when he debuted and attacked Jarrett at the end of one of the early Nashville shows. Another being the excellent Joe/AJ/Daniels feud, and then the whole truncated Daniels/Sting angle. But he's at his best in a tag team role, and I think they've just fallen into that line of thinking. They (Jeff Jarrett especially, because he's the one booking constant through Daniels' pushes) like him enough to make him seem like a big deal. Then they use him to elevate other guys (AMW twice, AJ, Samoa Joe, LAX, etc...wouldn't consider Sting as an "elevation").

It's kind of a weird wrestling curse when you're like Daniels and can have above-average matches with just about any opponent, but you're not yet a humongous super-duper star. IMO, Daniels slips into that category like a Tully Blanchard/Bobby Eaton/Terry Taylor/Dean Malenko/Jerry Lynn/Brad Armstrong.

I think it was Scott Hall that once said in a shoot that the worst thing the "office" can say about you is that you're just a "good hand". By that, he was saying you wanna be a really good worker, but not so good that all the bookers will use you for is to make suckier people look better than they actually are...at your expense. Does that make any sense? I think Daniels falls into that category...but there's nothing wrong with that either, because those type of guys are always employed (moreso than the Scott Halls and far suckier workers of the world), and can work as agents until they're 60 if they want.

Everyone can try to become the best worker they can be, but not everyone can be world champion. I'm not saying I wouldn't like to see Daniels eventually win it once (I would), but I doubt it will ever happen. And it doesn't seem like Daniels cares, he's never one of the guys you hear about that's "unhappy" and wants a release. He just shows up, clocks in, and puts on great matches.

That's actually a very good analogy, Daniels as a five-tool guy as it relates to baseball. Him as Tully, or Terry Taylor etc makes sense too. Doesn't mean I don't wanna see him get the world title at some point, but I can see your reasoning. Kudos.

[KLRA]

Here's the thing: Daniels is the guy that when you need that next name brought up to be the main event, he can get that guy there. Put him into an angle with Daniels, and you have a new main event guy. No matter what he does, he doesn't lose his credibility with the fans and is always looked at as a "dangerous" opponent.

Is he the guy you put on the top of the cards to draw in money? No,because unfortunately for the casual wrestling fan he just doesn't have that "X factor" that draws rediculous amounts of money (although if needed, in a pinch, he could be used temporarily). But do you build a promotion around/with him? Yes, because he can put over the entirity of China and still look like a million bucks afterwards.

Look at Foley for the great majority of his career. He was always near the top of the cards, but never the TOP guy. However, he could always be used to get someone else over.

Plus Daniels is the first person to give up a chance for him to be #1 in place of a younger guy because that's what Daniels is all about.

If you want an even better comparison, I give you Daniels and Curt Hennig. No matter what, you always looked at Hennig as a dangerous opponent and whoever faced him came out looking 20 times better.