Christopher Daniels appeared on Busted Open with Doug Mortman and Dave LaGreca, which airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Sirius 92 and XM 207. Highlights from his interview are as follows:
Wrestling in London: “When you get in front of a crowd that is pumped to see you, you can’t help but step up your game a notch. And for the last couple years when we’ve been going over to the UK, the London crowd has been one of the loudest crowds we’ve ever been in front of. We decided to make a gamble and put the television taping in London, and as you can see from the last two weeks of television, I think it’s paid off. I think it’s going to bring new eyes to the product, the fact that we’re taking it different places. And as often that we can tape outside of Orlando, I think it’s better for the product that makes us look bigger and bigger, and it’s just gonna widen that spotlight on us.”
Going from London back to the Impact Zone for a PPV: “It’s great to get out and tape our shows in different areas, but at the same time, we recognize the loyal fans that have been in Orlando ever since we started. We’re just looking to do what’s best for the company overall. And sometimes that means going and taping Impact! outside of Orlando. And at the same time, people have come to grow to love the Impact! show from the Impact Zone in Orlando. We’re also taking steps to save money in that respect as far as taping as much in Orlando as we can, but also branching out to bigger arenas in different places.”
The lineage of Ring of Honor: “The thing about Ring of Honor is that it was always populated with talent that was hungry for opportunity, that was hungry for a chance to show what they could do on a national level. And guys that loved wrestling from the very beginning. All of us who came up through Ring of Honor, the one thing that we had in common was the love of the business. When you get guys like that in a locker room, you can’t help but have great matches and that is what got the spotlight on that company in the beginning. And once the spotlight is on, once the fans are paying attention, you can’t help but for the other companies to start paying attention to the talent that’s there.”
Companies balancing ‘pure wrestling’ with sports entertainment: “Well I think it fluctuates from week to week. I feel like each television show (whether we’re talking about WWE or Impact! Wrestling or Ring of Honor), they’re looking to walk that balance between pure in-ring sports and the character development, the things that make an Austin Aries stand out from an Alex Shelley, or a Christopher Daniels that stands out from an A.J. Styles, or a CM Punk standing out from Dolph Ziggler. You’ve gotta be involved with these characters to ultimately care about how they do whether they win or lose inside for the wrestling ring. And it’s just a fine line. I mean, some weeks you?re going to get in-ring promos that seem to last a longer time than usual, and sometimes you’re going to get 20-minute matches on the television show. It just depends on that weekend and what the show and the people that are putting the show together, what they feel like is going to be the thing that draws the viewer in and makes them go, ‘I’ve gotta watch next week.'”
