Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

Christopher Daniels

Daniel Christopher Covell (born December 24, 1971) is an American professional wrestler, best known in the United States by his ring name "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels. He currently wrestles as Curry Man in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Japan.

He also works regularly for many independent promotions. Covell is known as King of Indies for his work with independent promotions all over the world; including Ring of Honor and Frontier Wrestling Alliance.

Career

Early career

Christopher Daniels got his start in pro wrestling at Windy City Pro Wrestling in Chicago during the early 1990s. In 2000, he tagged in the World Wrestling Federation with Aaron Aguilera as "Dos" one half of Los Conquistadores. He also challenged TAKA Michinoku for the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort in his Fallen Angel gimmick on WWF Shotgun Saturday Night. He also wrestled for hardcore wrestling promotions XPW and ECW. Daniels wrestles frequently in Japan (and currently in TNA) as his masked alter-ego Curry Man, a gimmick created by Jinsei Shinzaki and based on Curry Cook, a character in the Kinnikuman manga.

World Championship Wrestling (2001)

On January 23, 2001 during an episode of WCW Monday Nitro Daniels had a match against Michael Modest. During the match Daniels attempted a springboard moonsault, but his left foot went over the rope as his other foot connected. This lack of momentum left him unable to complete the rotation thus he botched the move and landed on his head with his legs towards the ropes, nearly breaking his neck. His left arm was impaired for the rest of the match. Despite this however Daniels managed to continue the match to its finish. After the match, both Daniels and Modest were offered 90-day contracts, but the purchase of WCW by the World Wrestling Federation meant neither would wrestle another match in WCW. He continued to wrestle on the independent circuit and in Japan. Daniels also portrayed a hooded figure that Vampiro reported his success to after he won the Human Torch match against Sting.

Ring of Honor (2002–2007)

2002–2004

Christopher Daniels was known as one of the "Founding Fathers" of Ring of Honor, due to being in the company's main show. He wrestled in the main event of the first show, The Era of Honor Begins, in a triple threat match against Low Ki and "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson. Daniels lost the match, but refused to shake hands with his opponents, thus breaking the Code of Honor, which at the time stated that all wrestlers must shake hands before and after the match. Because the rest of the show had been following the Code of Honor, this had been considered a particularly disgraceful action. Directly following his decision not to shake hands, Daniels got on the mic and challenged both Low Ki and Danielson to a Round Robin match, which took place at ROH's second show, the Round Robin Challenge. Daniels won the first match, defeating Danielson. However, this time, because Daniels won, he forced Dragon to shake his hand. In the next match of the series, Daniels faced Low Ki. Daniels tapped out to the Dragon Clutch, but, just like the first show, Daniels refused to shake hands and stated that he could have beaten Low Ki if he hadn't already wrestled that night. He also said he would not step into the ring again with Low Ki unless the ROH Title was on the line. Daniels made it clear that he was trying to break down Ring of Honor by not following its code. To help him do this, he created The Prophecy.

At Ring of Honor's third show, A Night of Appreciation for Eddie Guerrero, Daniels faced Donovan Morgan. Many people thought Morgan would beat some respect into Daniels, but instead, they showed a mutual respect for each other, and Morgan formed a partnership with Daniels. Daniels earned the right to compete to become the first ROH Champion in a 60 Minute Iron Man Match against Spanky, Doug Williams, and Low Ki. During the match, Daniels managed to pin Low Ki, but due to Iron Man Match rules, Low Ki was still able to win the match. This did not sit well with Daniels, since he lost the match despite the fact he was the only person to be neither pinned nor submitted.

Two months later Low Ki would defend his title against Xavier. During the match, Christopher Daniels, to crown the first ROH Tag Team Champions with his partner Donovan Morgan, came to the ring. Because of ROH rules, Daniels couldn't touch Low Ki, but he did distract his attention, allowing Xavier to attack Low Ki with a chair. Low Ki would go on to lose Xavier, and following this it was discovered that Xavier was the newest member of The Prophecy. Later that night, Daniels and Morgan would go on to win the Tag Team Title, meaning that The Prophecy held all the titles in ROH.

At Glory By Honor, Daniels faced Doug Williams, and Xavier faced Jay Briscoe, as suggested by his brother Mark. The Prophecy also had plans for Low Ki that night, as they hired Samoa Joe, making his ROH debut that night, to take out Low Ki in the first ever Fight Without Honor. Low Ki would win the match, and shake Joe's hand, which was not what The Prophecy had in mind.

The Prophecy would have many changes, such as Dan Maff and B.J. Whitmer joining, while Xavier and Morgan would leave. The new Prophecy would engage in a bitter feud with the Second City Saints, which would see the temporary end to Daniels' ROH career. In a match with the Saints, Daniels was given the Pepsi Plunge through a table by CM Punk. Daniels would not return for sixteen months, due to being pulled from all ROH shows by Total Nonstop Action as a result of the Rob Feinstein scandal.

2005–2007

At Death Before Dishonor III, Christopher Daniels would make his ROH return, challenging CM Punk for his newly won ROH Title, who was determined to take it to WWE with him. Punk, however, refused the challenge. The next show, Sign of Dishonor saw Daniels defeat Punk's stablemate Colt Cabana, despite interference by Punk, who attempted to hit Daniels with a steel chain (he instead hit Cabana behind Daniels' back). At Fate of an Angel, Daniels would lose thanks to Punk, against the debuting Matt Hardy, but even with this loss Daniels was granted a title shot at The Homecoming. Daniels and Punk fought back and forth, eventually ending in a one hour time limit draw, just as Daniels hit the Angel's Wings. Redemption, the next ROH show, featured Christopher Daniels, James Gibson, and Samoa Joe challenging CM Punk in a Four- way elimination match for the ROH Title. During the match, while Christopher Daniels was covered by Joe, Daniels got his foot on the rope. However, Punk knocked it off before the referee could see, and Daniels was eliminated. Daniels tried to get revenge, but ended up accidentally eliminating Samoa Joe.

After this, Daniels would remain a permanent member of the ROH roster. He also made his first appearances in the United States as Curry Man, starting with his match against Shingo Takagi at Dragon Gate Invasion in August 2005.

On November 25, 2006, Christopher Daniels teamed up with Matt Sydal to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship from Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli. The pair would lose the title on February 24, 2007 when Jay and Mark Briscoe defeated Daniels and Sydal to become three-time ROH World Tag Team Champions. At Good Times, Great Memories on April 28, Daniels went to a fifteen minute time-limit draw with Erick Stevens. Following the match, Daniels turned heel and quit the company. It had been his official last night in ROH, due to increased involvement with TNA, but this had been kept quiet.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002–Present)

X Division and Tag Team Division (2002–2007)

Daniels joined TNA shortly after the company was founded in 2002. He formed a stable with Low-Ki and Elix Skipper known as Triple X. XXX competed in the tag division, winning the NWA World Tag Team Championship and taking turns to defend the title, and also joined Vince Russo's Sports Entertainment Xtreme faction. The stable disbanded in June 2003 after Low-Ki began wrestling primarily in Japan and the remaining two members decisively lost a cage match to America's Most Wanted. After XXX disbanded, Daniels had a brief feud with Jeff Jarrett around August through September 2003. Afterwards, Daniels competed in the X Division until reviving XXX as a tag team with Skipper in July 2004. They were forced to disband once more after losing to America's Most Wanted on December 5 at TNA Turning Point 2004 in one of the most famous Six Sides of Steel, during which Elix Skipper performed the catwalk-rana.

In 2005, Daniels engaged in a lengthy feud with A.J. Styles over the TNA X Division Championship. He won the title at Destination X 2005 under dubious circumstances at the end of an Ultimate X Challenge. Styles had taken down the belt, but the referee was unconscious. Daniels put Styles in the Angel's Wings and took the belt when the ref came to. Daniels went on to become the longest reigning X-Division champion in TNA history, holding the belt for over 150 days. During the run Daniels successfully defended the X Division title against Elix Skipper, Shocker, Petey Williams, Matt Bentley, Chris Sabin, and Austin Aries. Later, on September 11 at Unbreakable, Styles won back the title in a three-way dance with Daniels and Samoa Joe when Styles reversed an attempted Angels Wings into a pin.

On Genesis on November 13, Daniels received a Grade III concussion after being attacked by Samoa Joe and given a Musclebuster on a chair, following a tag match together. At Turning Point 2005, when Joe tried to similarly injure A.J. Styles after winning the X-Division Championship from him, Daniels made his return, attacking Joe and enabling members of TNA security to protect Styles and restrain Joe. At Final Resolution, Daniels was defeated by Joe when Styles threw in the towel to prevent the badly beaten Daniels from suffering serious injuries after Daniels was unable to defend himself. The next week, Daniels claimed Styles did it to get the number 1 contendership for the X-Division Title. That same night he cost Styles a match against the "Prince of Punk" Shannon Moore by throwing in the towel, resulting in another three-way at for the title at Against All Odds, where Samoa Joe retained his title. Daniels succeeded in winning an Ultimate X match to regain the X-Division Title, then losing it on April 13, 2006 to Samoa Joe after receiving a second rope Island Driver.

After losing the X-Division title, Daniels was scheduled to face Jushin Liger in a Six Sides of Steel match at Lockdown. However, Liger was pulled out of the match, and Daniels would be facing a mystery opponent. The opponent turned out to be the returning Low Ki, Daniels' former tag partner who had now changed his ring name to Senshi, and the two competed in a back-and-forth match, which ultimately saw Senshi win.

Daniels went on to team with AJ Styles, becoming #1 contenders for the NWA Tag Team Title, then held by America's Most Wanted. Daniels and Styles won the title from AMW at TNA Slammiversary 2006. The team would feud with LAX, trading the tag title back and forth with the team of Homicide and Hernandez. On November 16, 2006, Daniels competed in a triple threat match that also involved Chris Sabin, and then X-Division Champion A.J. Styles in the primetime debut of TNA Impact! on Spike TV. Daniels won the match by pinning Chris Sabin to capture his third TNA X Division Championship. He went to lose it to Sabin in a Three-Way bout at TNA Final Resolution, which also involved Jerry Lynn.

Daniels was taking time off from TNA for a repackaging of his character but made his return as a heel at TNA Destination X. He distracted Lynn during his match with Sabin. After the match, the newly-bearded Daniels, sporting tribal-styled paint on one side of his face hit Sabin with the Angel's Wings and Lynn with the X Division title belt. His mannerisms reprised those of Sting that he would attack various X-Division wrestlers including Lynn, Jay Lethal, and Kaz on the March 15, 2007 edition of Impact!.

At Lockdown 2007, Daniels pinned Jerry Lynn in the Six Sides of Steel. At Sacrifice 2007, Daniels pinned Rhino after hitting him with a baseball bat. Daniels next moved to a feud with Sting, costing him a King of the Mountain matchqualifier by hitting him with a baseball bat. Sting then attacked Daniels the next week on Impact!. On June 17, 2007 at Slammiversary, Daniels lost a match against Sting via Scorpion Death Drop.

At Victory Road 2007 he won a 10-Man Ultimate X Gauntlet Match to become the #1 Contender to the TNA X Division Championship. Senshi and Elix Skipper helped Daniels to win the match, resulting in the reunion of Triple X. At Bound for Glory on October 14, Daniels challenged unsuccessfully for Jay Lethal's X Division Championship.

On the December 6th edition of TNA Impact!, Daniels beat Senshi in a match for his Feast or Fired briefcase, refereed by Elix Skipper. On the following week's show, it was revealed that Daniels' briefcase contained the pink slip, immediately causing him to be fired from TNA Wrestling.

Curry Man (2008–Present)

A month later, Daniels returned making the TNA debut of his masked Curry Man persona, soon to team up regularly with Shark Boy. He went on to feud with Team 3D and win a "Fishmarket Street Fight" against them. On the March 13, 2008 Impact, Curry Man qualified for the Xscape Match for the X Division Title at Lockdown by beating Petey Williams. At Lockdown, he fought Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, Shark Boy, Consequences Creed and Johnny Devine. Curry Man eliminated Creed from the match after delivering the Spice Rack. He was later eliminated by Devine via the Devine Intervention. Curry Man competed in the TerrorDome match at TNA Sacrifice, but the eventual winner was Kaz.

After that Curry Man, and Shark Boy aligned with Super Eric to form a comedic superhero-themed stable called the "Prince Justice Brotherhood". On August 2, 2008, Covell briefly returned to his previous "Fallen Angel" character in a event presented by the World Wrestling Council. There he lost to defending WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion, Noriega, by pinfall.

In wrestling

Finishing and signature moves
As Curry Man

Bridging Northern Lights suplex
Spice Rack (TNA) / Spicy Drop (Independent circuit) (Argentine backbreaker rack dropped into either a facebuster or a DDT)
Belly to back suplex backbreaker
Curry Bottom (Standing side slam)
Domo Lariato (Lariat)
Hi–C (Diving crossbody)
Slingshot elbow drop
Slingshot suplex powerslam
Spicy Elbow (Feint leg drop into an elbow drop to the chest, with theatrics)
Springboard diving back elbow

As Christopher Daniels

Angel's Wings (Spinning lifting sitout double underhook facebuster)
B.M.E. – Best Moonsault Ever (Double jump moonsault)
Last Rites (Rolling cutter)
Reverse STO followed into a Koji Clutch

Blue thunder driver
Charging high knee strike to a cornered opponent
Death Valley driver
Double knee gutbuster
Enzuigiri
Exploder suplex
Fall From Grace (Modified cross–armed iconoclasm)
Reverse hurricanrana
Reverse STO, sometimes from the top rope
Sidewalk slam, sometimes from the top rope
Standing side slam
Split–legged moonsault, sometimes while springboarding to a standing opponent on the outside
Springboard moonsault
Springboard plancha
Standing monkey flip
STO

Nicknames

"The Fallen Angel"
"God's Gift to Wrestling"
"The Wrestling Prophet"
"The Lord of The Ring"
"Mr. TNA" (Self–proclaimed)
"Hot and Spicy" – as Curry Man
"King of Spice" – as Curry Man

Managers

Championships and accomplishments

All Pro Wrestling

APW Worldwide Internet Championship (1 time)
APW King of the Indies (2000)

Ballpark Brawl

Natural Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

East Coast Wrestling Association

Empire Wrestling Federation

EWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Frontier Wrestling Alliance

FWA British Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Michinoku Pro Wrestling

British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
MPW Futaritabi Tag Team League (2002)

Midwest Championship Wrestling

MCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Reign

New Japan Pro Wrestling

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with American Dragon

NWA Florida

NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

NWA Midwest

NWA Midwest Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kevin Quinn

New Age Wrestling Federation

CT Cup Co-Holder (1 time) – with John Brooks

Premier Wrestling Federation

PWF United States Championship (1 time)

Pro-Pain Pro Wrestling

3PW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI Tag Team of the Year (2006) with A.J. Styles
PWI ranked him # 15 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 2006

Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX

ZERO1-MAX United States Openweight Championship (1 time)

Ring of Honor

ROH World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Donovan Morgan (1) and Matt Sydal (1) (First)

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

NWA World Tag Team Championship (6 times) – with Low Ki and Elix Skipper as Triple X (3), James Storm (1), and A.J. Styles (2)
TNA X Division Championship (3 times)
TNA World X Cup (2004) with Jerry Lynn, Chris Sabin and Elix Skipper

Ultimate Pro Wrestling

UPW Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

Windy City Pro Wrestling

WCPW League Championship (1 time)
WCPW Lightweight Championship (1 time)
WCPW Middleweight Championship (1 time)
WCPW Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Kevin Quinn (1) and Mike Anthony (1)

World Power Wrestling

WPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

World Wrestling Council

WWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kevin Quinn

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

5 Star Match (2005) vs. A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe at Unbreakable on September 11

Personal life

Daniels is married to Lisa, and has two children, a daughter Jerica, who was born on September 26, 2003, and a son, named Joshua Allen Covell who was born on October 21, 2005. Joshua's middle name is derived from Daniels' best friend A.J. Styles' first name. In the CM Punk/Samoa Joe Straight Shootin' DvD, they say that Daniels daughter is affectionately known as "Cactus" because of the first time Punk tried to hold her, he didn't support her head to which Daniels exclaimed "What're you doing to my daughter? Don't hold her like a cactus." He is a Roman Catholic. Daniels reads a lot of comics, and has collected a lot of issues. In addition to this, Daniels is a big Marvel Comics fan, his favorite Marvel creation is the X-Men, and his favorite X-Men character is Wolverine. Daniel trades comics with other wrestlers such as Samoa Joe and Homicide. Daniels has a tattoo on his sternum of an ankh, the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph signifying "life".

Television and film appearances

Daniels has appeared in numerous other forms of television, including two episodes of Distraction as Curry Man, along with fellow wrestlers Frankie Kazarian and Samoa Joe, a Chef Boyardee commercial alongside Matt and Jeff Hardy and making a guest appearance on the show NUMB3RS alongside mixed martial arts fighter Tito Ortiz

Daniels competed on the January 18, 2008 episode of Merv Griffin's Crosswords, coming in at the beginning of the second round as a "Spoiler". During the show he made it to the front row once, winning a trip to Reno, Nevada in the process, but he ended the show back as a Spoiler, therefore leaving with only the consolation prize.

Daniels makes an uncredited appearance in the 1999 documentary film Beyond the Mat. and was one of the main stars of the Bodyslam! Want to be a Professional Wrestler? DVD.