Christopher Daniels made a surprise return to ROH on Saturday night at their Big Bang pay-per-view, a move that seems to signify the end of his TNA career although he is still listed on their web site. Sources also state that Daniels was telling people within the wrestling industry that he was released by TNA.
Nothing solid has come out as to why Daniels was released, but it is shocking to hear that one of the few remaining originals in TNA was released out of the blue like this. Prior to the beginning of the Hogan/Bischoff regime, Daniels was headlining pay-per-view events challenging for the TNA World Title at Turning Point and Final Resolution. His push seemed to come to a halt, though, after January 4th.
Since then Daniels went from challenging for the World Championship one month to losing to Sean Morley the next. It looked like Daniels would be getting a newfound push to help bring the X Division back to what it once was and said he would carry it to new heights, but the focus seems to have change towards the likes of Kazarian, Shannon Moore and the X Division Champion, Doug Williams.
Daniels is a very versatile wrestler and has worn plenty of hats during his nearly 8-year run with the company. Not only has Daniels wrestled as himself, but he also wrestled as Curry Man and was a temporary fill in for the Suicide persona. On top of that, Daniels is one of the best technical wrestlers active today and it is unfortunate to add his name to the list of the recently released.
I can only wish Daniels the best of luck in the future and I am glad to have seen him wrestle with all of his personas in TNA during live events. The most recent event being in St. Cloud, MN, where he was nice enough to autograph the 2005 Destination X DVD cover that I received in my TNA grab bag.
I sincerely hope we have not seen the last of Daniels in TNA.
