Booth’s Eye View #3 – Role of the Fallen Angel

Last week on Impact saw the return of Christopher Daniels, who appeared from the crowd and delivered a blistering cross body from the top of the steel cage to three members of Immortal. Even though the jaded IZ fans were not so vocal about the “Fallen Angel” finally coming back into the TNA midst, I found myself marking out at home.
Despite the fact I had known that Daniels was back under the mask of Suicide for a couple of months now, it was still awesome to see him be involved in the main event of Impact as himself, especially in such a prominent way.

Now that Daniels is back however, I would like to see TNA management finally give him the main event push that has eluded him for too long (barring the prematurely ended push a couple of years ago that saw him going after “The Icon” Sting). The “Fallen Angel” is an extremely accomplished wrestler who can be high flying one minute then mat wrestling in the next breath, gaining moments of awe from fans and respect from his peers. He is also a very good talker when given a decent storyline to get his teeth into, as proved by his successful stint as the leader of the now defunct Triple X faction, which had notable feuds with AMW and Disciples of the New Church during TNA’s early years. As AJ Styles‘ best friend (both Kayfabe and in real life) TNA has plenty of opportunity to exploit this relationship to push Daniels, especially since Bully Ray’s brutal power bomb off the stage two weeks ago has left Styles out indefinitely.

The obvious option would be to install Christopher Daniels as the temporary “leader” of Fortune in his best friend’s absence. In this role Daniels could go after the best heel in TNA at the moment, Bully Ray, in a search for retribution. He could even get involved at Lockdown to cost Immortal the Lethal Locdown match, solidifying his place as a real threat to the Hogan/Bischoff/Flair regime. A programme between Daniels and Ray would be a sure fire hit with fans considering the clash of wrestling styles and the emotion involved in the feud. However, TNA would have to keep AJ Styles at home for the effect to truly work, and with “The Phenomenal One” recently breaking into mega star territory(at least in TNA) that would be a difficult decision to take. Would fans still hold such esteem for a wrestler who was “injured” for so long during a major faction war?

A less obvious option, yet one that could really shoot the “Fallen Angel” into main event orbit, would be to have Daniels gain Fortune’s trust only to turn on the group at Lockdown and side with Immortal. Daniels’ reasoning would be simple: AJ Styles let Dixie Carter fire him without saying a word, but now with Hogan/Bischoff in charge it’s time for Christopher Daniels to be the poster boy of TNA. This route could enable a fantastic feud to emerge between Daniels and Styles (when he returns), as well as Immortal and Fortune, and it could also see Daniels finally get his hands on the TNA World Heavyweight Title if Immortal use Daniels in the role that Jeff Hardy once occupied.

No matter which road TNA decides to take, the opportunity is undoubtedly there to build a new main event star. His name should be Christopher Daniels.