Christopher Daniels says he will be thanking people for a long time.
The Fallen Angel touched the lives of many wrestling talents and fans through his storied career. Both as a wrestler for three decades as well as in his role as the head of AEW talent relations, there are a lot of people who will credit Daniels for their success in one way or the other.
The wrestling veteran who retired from active competition just last month appeared on AEW Unrestricted podcast to talk about his career. When asked about the lives he has affected, CD got emotional and said that it’ll be him who will be saying thank you to all those people for letting him live his dream for so long:
“It gets me emotional honestly. I think about having to go to every guy in that locker room at some point and I’m still doing it. I haven’t finished. I haven’t even scratched the surface. But there’s going to be a moment where I’m probably going to walk up to every person I’ve ever wrestled in that locker room and be like, ‘Thanks for letting me wrestle.’
There’s a movie that I just watched called My Old Ass and it’s very poignant. There’s a scene where a guy goes, ‘You know, there’s going to be a day where you’re going to go out with your friends and you’re going to play pretend and you’re going to come home and that’ll be the last time you ever play pretend.’
That hit me really hard because I watched it right when I had retired, right when I had made the decision. I thought to myself like, I’ve spent my life playing pretend. So I’m going to go up to each one of these guys and let them know it meant so much to me to be able to share a ring with all of them and play pretend.”
It Just Means A Lot To Me: Christopher Daniels
Christopher Daniels said if he has inspired or helped anyone through his career then it’s only gravy on top of his own work. The former ROH Champion claimed that he cherishes even the worst wrestling match he has had because it was a moment that allowed him to do what he loved to do:
“Even the worst wrestling match I ever had was wonderful in that sense of doing what you love to do and doing what you felt you were sort of born to do. I got to do it for 32 years and each match I ever had, even the worst one was fun.
So I’m going to go up to each one of these guys and say I appreciate how much, we risk our lives, we risk our health to get in the ring and do this ridiculous dance called professional wrestling. It just means a lot to me to be able to have gone out there and affect the lives of fans like I have. If working with these guys has benefited them in any way, if I’ve made anyone happier or better as a professional wrestler, then that to me is just gravy.
I’m so happy that if I’ve had that experience with people, I’m thrilled to have done that. But honestly, they enriched my life by giving me the opportunity to do what I did for as long as I did. I think I’ll be thanking people for the next 10 years. I’ll be walking up to them and ‘Hey, I remember this match and I appreciate it and thank you.'”