Christopher Daniels is one of the most successful wrestlers to ever work in the business, without having any significant stays in WWE or WCW. While he worked in both of the major promotions for short stints, he made his name in smaller promotions like TNA and Ring of Honor before making his way to AEW, where he seems ready to end his career.
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While he mostly worked in smaller promotions, that does not mean he didn't have a great career with his gimmicks. He started in Ring of Honor with the best gimmick in the promotion at the time, The Fallen Angel. He worked with Vince Russo early in TNA and became one of their top stars. He also proved to be a master in singles and tag team wrestling, excelling in both.
10 Fortune (2011-2012)
In 2011, TNA decided to bring Christopher Daniels back to the company and put him in a faction. He had done very well in the past, working in Triple X and The Prophesy, so it was a no-brainer that he would be great in Fortune.
He even joined up with his long-time nemesis AJ Styles in the group. However, Fortune was never a great fit for someone like Daniels, and his time there was never memorable, with him finally leaving when he sucker-punched Styles and quit.
9 TNA Veteran (2009-2010)
When Christopher Daniels was working in the X-Division in TNA, he was at his best. However, he seemed lost in the shuffle when the company started bringing in WWE castoffs and former WCW superstars.
He ended up involved in feuds with X-Division guys like Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin. While these feuds resulted in good matches, much of the storyline here rotated around the masked character of Suicide, who most of the roster believed to be Daniels. In 2010, after eight years in TNA, the company released him.
8 All Elite Wrestling (2019 - present)
Christopher Daniels is in All Elite Wrestling now and is working in S0Cal Uncensored. They ended up as the first-ever AEW World Tag Team Champions, and that was a huge success, but the problem is that it was Kaz and Sky who held the titles, although Daniels was with them every step of the way.
While Scorpion Sky has gone on to have a singles run, Daniels has continued teaming with Kazarian. That team-up could very well be on its last legs, spelling the end for Daniels' career overall.
7 ROH Second Stint (2010-2011)
After TNA released Christopher Daniels from his contract after eight years, he returned to Ring of Honor. His return was at a PPV called The Big Bang! and he challenged Davey Richards upon his return to the company. It was here that Daniels started climbing the ladder again, beating names like Kevin Steen and Eddie Edwards.
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This resulted in him getting a world title shot against Roderick Strong, which he ended up losing. He did win the ROH TV title in this stint and then eventually turned heel and joined the House of Truth. After Best in the World 2011, he left ROH and went back to TNA.
6 ROH World Champion (2014-2019)
The third ROH stint for Christopher Daniels was his most successful. Daniels went back to ROH with Kazarian, and they continued their great work as a tag team (Bad Influence/The Addiction/So-Cal Uncensored). They went on to beat reDRagon for the ROH Tag Team Championships, but the best was yet to come.
At the ROH 15th Anniversary Show, Daniels beat Adam Cole to win the ROH World Championship, the only world title of his entire career. He held the title for three months before losing it to Cody Rhodes. Before leaving, So-Cal Uncensored even won the six-man tag titles.
5 Curry Man
It wasn't his most successful gimmick, and it did not bring gold and accolades. However, Christopher Daniels' work as Curry Man was easily the most entertaining and fun work of his career.
He was hot, he was spicy, and he wore a mask with curry on the top of it and danced all the way to the ring before dancing in the ring with the fans. This was started in Japan when he worked in Michinoku Pro Wrestling and he then brought the gimmick to TNA.
4 SoCal Uncensored
The work of Christopher Daniels in SoCal Uncensored goes through many iterations. This is the Christopher Daniels who teamed up with Frankie Kazarian in TNA as Bad Influence. It then moved on to Ring of Honor, where they changed their name to The Addiction.
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Soon, the two added Scorpio Sky to their ranks, and they changed their name to SoCal Uncensored. There is no doubt this is Daniels' most accomplished group, title-wise. He and Kaz won the TNA Tag Titles twice and the ROH Tag Titles twice. As a trio, they won the ROH six-man titles and the first-ever AEW tag titles.
3 Triple X
The first gimmick for Christopher Daniels in TNA was as a part of Vince Russo's faction, sEx (Sports Entertainment Xtreme). More specifically, he, Low-Ki, and Elix Skipper were known as Triple X, and they operated under the Freebird rule, taking the tag team division by storm.
The three ended up winning the NWA Tag Team Championship belts three times and had some of the best tag team matches in TNA history against the likes of America's Most Wanted and Team Canada.
2 The Fallen Angel (ROH)
The best gimmick that Christopher Daniels ever had was The Fallen Angel, which he portrayed when he debuted in Ring of Honor. He was a cult-leader character.
This might have been based on the idea that he was supposed to be the Higher Power in WWE before Vince McMahon used it for himself. He led his own faction called The Prophesy and was the top heel in the company in its early days, showcasing great potential and flashes of greatness in the years to come.
1 TNA X-Division
Christopher Daniels was never better than when he was one of the three-headed X-Division monsters, alongside AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. They were all very different, Joe a brawler, AJ a high flyer, and Daniels a technical expert.
Together, they made magic every time they stepped in the ring, and every match involving them was a masterpiece. This was TNA at its best, and Daniels was as responsible as anyone else in that ring. Every time he stepped in the ring, fans expected greatness.
