During an appearance on the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, Christopher Daniels explained his new role in AEW and why he transitioned away from the ring.
What he does now is help bring the talents to AEW Dark and Elevation: “I’m more involved with signing and/or bringing guys to events. Whether it’s Dark tapings in Orlando or live events on the road. Honestly, it’s really Tony’s decision. Because he pays attention to the scene, not just AEW, not just other large companies in the US, but the independents. So if there’s buzz around a name and he’s interested in that, he’ll shoot me a text. ‘Hey, what can we do to get this person here, or that person here.’ And then it’s sort of on me and a couple of different people to put that meeting together between Tony and the person in question. So, it’s really — it’s Tony’s baby, and so Tony has the idea of, ‘I want this guy here,’ or ‘I want this young lady here,’ or, ‘What do we do to get her?’ And then it’s sort of my job to hunt them down and figure out how to get them to the spot.”
Daniels also gave advice to the wrestlers on how to have more chances to be in AEW: “The best way, if you’re an independent wrestler right now, is to do work on the independents. If you can get buzz around your name right now, Tony will find out about you. You know, I get plenty of emails from guys that are like, ‘Hey, I’d love an opportunity. I’m willing to travel. You know, just give me that chance.’ And like, I wish I got paid per those because I would be a rich man. Honestly, the trick is, like, if you can get Tony’s attention somehow with work that you do outside of AEW, Tony is more likely to give you an opportunity to be seen. It’s really just a matter of going out there and impressing someone to the point where everybody’s like, ‘Oh my God did you see this?’ If you can become viral somehow, you know, Tony will figure out who you are. Then he’ll make the effort or he’ll reach out and be like, ‘Hey, let’s see what you can do in an AEW ring now that you’ve done this wherever you did it.’”
“Whether it was AWW, or PWG, or AWF in North Carolina or any of the small companies around the US, you know, everybody’s fighting for an opportunity to be seen. And the beauty of Twitter and social media now is that it’s so much easier to be seen like that.”
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
