Professional wrestling veteran and top All Elite Wrestling Star Christopher Daniels recently appeared as a guest on AEW’s Unrestricted podcast, where he talked about topics including how he got into AEW, how Scorpio Sky was added to SCU, his current role in the promotion, and how he has handled being the Head of Talent Relations.
Below are the highlights:
On how he got into AEW:
“When AEW came around, I was in probably my sixth year at Ring of Honor. I was in a position where I felt like I had done everything I wanted to do in the ring at Ring of Honor. This opportunity came when Matt and Nick offered me this opportunity to join this company. It was an unknown commodity. There was nothing I could say where obviously it’s going to do well or do poorly because of this, this and this. It was a shot in the dark, but, I felt like basing my decision off of what I saw Matt and Nick do in the course of their careers in terms of the success they had, with the risks they took, I felt like it wasn’t a risk at all. I felt like as long as I hung with them and stuck with their view, that it was going to be successful. I was very fortunate that they looked at me as a person that could do the job that they offered me, which was the talent relations. So far so good.”
On how Scorpio Sky was added to SCU:
“Honestly, when we were at Ring of Honor, Frankie (Kazarian) put a good word in for Sky. I’ve known Sky for a long time, but definitely, he and Frankie had much more of a history through wrestling together and against each other on the California independents. Scorpio came through Ring of Honor and had a couple of good showings. There was a moment in time where Frankie and I were looking for a third partner. We had a partner, Kamaitachi, who is Hiromu Takahashi, who returned to New Japan. So, we had an opening as a spot for a trio that we were trying to get going in Ring of Honor. There was one evening in Ring of Honor where Scorpio competed in a match against The Young Bucks and the rest of the Elite where Nick Jackson even took the time on the microphone to point him out singularly and say, ‘Hey, we should have this guy here.’ I remember going to the gentleman that was booking the company and said, ‘Why don’t you give Scorpio Sky to us and let him be our third.’ It wasn’t two months after that, that the group that ended up becoming So Cal Uncensored got together.”
On his current role in the promotion:
“I feel like with the level of talent we have in AEW, there are some fans that would love to see me on Dynamite, but the honest truth is, the time to feature me as an act, I feel, is not long gone, but sort of passed and I’m ok with that. I feel like my best efforts are to be used wrestling younger guys and help them get better if I can. If that happens on Dynamite, great, but if it happens on Dark, also great. That’s what my focus is now is to wrestle the guys who are under contract with us and see what I can do to help them not make the same mistakes that I made or that I see other young wrestlers make in their careers. That’s what I’m thinking at this point is who can I wrestle to help build up and give them credible wins. I feel like I’m not a soup can, but I feel that wrestling me and beating me means something, even though it seems like everybody does it these days. But, I’m ok with that.”
On how he has handled being the Head of Talent Relations:
“I’ve been very fortunate so far that I haven’t had any large issues, any problems yet, and I think part of it is because I feel like as long as I keep in mind to treat everybody with respect and dignity, in the end, I’m talking to people that are in the position that I’m in at some point.” “I’ve been on their side of the conversation, so I try to keep that in mind when I’m talking to them, and because of that, I’ve been very fortunate to have the respect of the people in the AEW locker room. That goes a long way. If you treat them with respect, they treat me with respect, and so far, as thankless of a job as it is, I haven’t had any problems with it.”
