Here are highlights and the video of a new interview with
Christopher Daniels about his TNA Departure, Eric Young as TNA Champion and
more:
On his TNA departure: “Just disappointed
really. I envisioned there be an opportunity for Bad Influence vs the Wolves to
happen on television but I found out that really wasn’t in the plans. TNA made
the decision of what they thought was best for their product. I don’t
necessarily agree with it but in the end it’s their decision and they need to
make the decision that they think are best for their business. Whether it’s for
financial reasons, creative reasons or a mixture of the two. So disappointment?
Yes but not frustration or bitterness. It’s happened before. For every company
around has made decisions that have fans scratch their heads on but at the same
time those guys have the long term picture in their heads and it may not be
clear to the wrestling fans at this point of why they’re doing it but something
will come in the future where they will understand and at the same time I’m not
dwelling on that decision. I’m looking forward to working in different
companies, and the many matchups available for myself and Frankie Kazarian right
now in the independent scene. It’ll be interesting to see what we do in the next
couple of months.”
On TNA becoming unrecognizable with so many veterans
gone: “In terms of my presence there you’ll see and feel in the next
couple of months cause I won’t be there and you’ll be able to notice before
Daniels and after Daniels in that respect. But for people that are saying
they’re not going to recognize the talent roster, my retort to that is there’s
still going to be guys like James Storm, Ken Anderson, Gunner, Robbie E and
Jesse G, people like Gail Kim and the Beautiful People are still there. And then
you’re getting this opportunity with guys like Sanada, like Brittney, like Tigre
uno, Bram, even Magnus who is still somewhat new to the promotion or at least to
the position that he’s in far as being one of the top guys. He’s still a young
face and is making strides as a character and as a performer. I think that most
wrestling fans will give wrestling an opportunity and it’s up to those people
that I just named to give the wrestling fan base reasons to continue to tune in.
I neglected to even mention Eric Young who’s their new World champion there.
He’s been around for a while, he’s a recognizable face and he’s now the World
champion. He’s already got another show in the works for Animal Planet, he’s a
very high profile individual and probably a very good choice of World Champion
at this point. Now it depends on building up that fan base and getting them use
to the idea of Eric Young as champion and those names that I just mentioned to
be the benchmark for the company.”
On Eric Young as World Heavyweight Champion: “I
feel like he sort of got thrown in the deep end. There wasn’t really an
opportunity for fans to get behind him, get behind his road as a no. 1
contender. It all happened so quickly. That’s no fault to Eric as it’s the
decision the creative team made. Now it’s up to the creative team and the
company as a whole to sort of get behind Eric. The creative team has to decide
on how to present him as a strong champion and put all their effort behind him
or do you go back to Magnus. Are they going to make Eric a transitional champion
and put the title on someone else? These are all the questions that have to be
answered in the next couple of months. I feel like if he’s given the chance to
succeed on his own merit then I believe he can succeed. It’s just a matter of
how decisions are made sometimes and like I said you don’t always understand
them when their first made but hopefully people can take a step back and sort of
look at the grand picture and hopefully things will turn out will for Impact and
Eric Young overall.”
On why he was never World Heavyweight Champion:
“Not my decision. Those decisions don’t come from us. Any wrestler that has ever
been asked why you haven’t been World champion yet the answer is you’re asking
the wrong people. When you have your interview with John Gaubrick, Dave Lagana
or Matt you can ask them. I think every wrestler in the world has wanted to be
World champion at some point and written a scenario where they could be World
champion and I’m no exception. I’ve pitched ideas and thought to myself maybe I
could do this or that or maybe this would be a good position for me, why they
didn’t go that way? In the end it goes back to that broad picture. Creative
teams usually have this broad idea and they have certain months and months in
advance sort of laid out and their decision making…it’s not up to me to question
as I just assume they are just doing what’s best for their business. I thought
for a while I was hot enough to do something in that respect but they obviously
had a different idea or at least they viewed me in a different light in terms of
what I could bring to the table as a character, performer.”
