Exclusive: Christopher Daniels Discusses His Ring Of Honor World Championship Match, Wrestling Goals, Retirement And More

Few active professional wrestlers have attained as much success as Christopher Daniels. He’s performed all over the world during a career that’s spanned more than two decades, and Daniels remains one of the most entertaining wrestlers in the business.

But Daniels, 45, still has one goal that he’s yet to achieve.

“The one thing that has eluded me over the course of my whole career is an actual world singles championship,” Daniels told International Business Times.

Daniels will soon get a chance to win that elusive title. He’s set to fight for the Ring of Honor World Championship on March 10 at ROH’s 15th Anniversary pay-per-view in Las Vegas.

Daniels never had a prolonged run in WWE, but he’s been a star in both TNA and Ring of Honor, the United States’ No.2 and No.3 wrestling promotions, for much of the past 15 years. He’s held various titles, winning the TNA X Division Championship and the Ring of Honor World Television Championship, as well as tag team titles for both promotions. In recent years, Daniels and Frankie Kazarian have been one of the most popular tag teams in all of professional wrestling.

While he’s never been in possession of a world championship, Daniels has certainly gotten close. He’s lost matches for the TNA World Championship against AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, both of whom are now WWE superstars. Daniels has been on the losing end of Ring of Honor World Championship matches, including the promotion’s first main event on Feb. 23, 2002.

“Every place that I’ve been, whether it’s Ring of Honor or TNA, the end goal has always been to become world champion. And a lot of times it wasn’t in the cards,” Daniels told IBT. “But the last couple of months it’s been at the forefront of my mind probably more than in the last six or seven years. So it’s definitely something that I think about, and I feel like if I can win that championship on the 10th, it would be sort of a great culmination of a long period of struggle and hardship and sacrifice.”

If Daniels wants to become champion, he’ll have to defeat either Adam Cole or Bobby Fish at the ROH 15th Anniversary PPV. On March 4, Cole will defend the title against Fish at Manhattan Mayhem. Cole won the belt at Wrestle Kingdom 11 on Jan. 4, and he’s the only three-time world champion in the company’s history.

Cole, 27, might have several more world title runs left before he even approaches the end of his career. Daniels, however, knows this might be his last shot to win the No.1 championship of a major wrestling promotion.

“The goal of everybody that gets into this is the possibility of being world champion, and some guys never get close enough even to realistically consider that. I’ve had that opportunity a bunch in the past and it just hasn’t gone my way. But now at this point, it’s closer than it’s ever been or probably gonna be again.”

Approaching his 46th birthday, Daniels is well aware that he’s no longer in the prime of his career. However, that doesn’t mean he’ll be calling it a career anytime soon.

“I do know that it’s closer to the end now than before, but I haven’t set a date. I haven’t said ‘this many years,’ or ‘this many matches,’ or ‘this particular date.’ I literally am just going on how I feel,” Daniels said. “I’m gonna continue to do this as long as I’m healthy and can continue to wrestle at that level too. And as long as I’m still having fun, and that’s been the case so far.”

ROH’s 15th Anniversary PPV will be available at rohwrestling.com and with the Fite TV app.