Christopher Daniels has called time on his iconic wrestling career (Picture: AEW/Ricky Havlik)
Wrestling legend Christopher Daniels has officially ended his in-ring career after more than three decades.
The 54-year-old star, who has wrestled for everyone from WWE and TNA Wrestling to New Japan Pro Wrestling and most recently All Elite Wrestling, confirmed he is hanging up his boots during an emotional moment on AEW Dynamite.
The Fallen Angel lost to ‘Hangman’ Adam Page in a brutal Texas Death Match during Saturday’s AEW Collision: Maximum Carnage show.
After being hit with a tombstone piledriver, Dead Eye and Buckshot Lariat before losing the bout, he was even hit with his own Angel’s Wings move.
On Wednesday night, Daniels told Hangman: ‘After that Texas Death Match, that last Buckshot Lariat added to all the damage I’ve done to my neck over the years.
‘My doctors have advised me to never wrestle again. So I’m here, face to face, to tell you – you win.
He lost a brutal match to Hangman Adam Page (Picture: AEW/Ricky Havlik)
The Fallen Angel officially announced his retirement on Wednesday night (Picture: AEW/Lee South)
‘You’ve won the last match that I’ll ever wrestle. So this is goodbye. I’m sorry, and I hope you can be happier.’
Although his comments on screen – which left Hangman visibly emotional – blurred the lines between storyline and reality, he appears to have genuinely hung up his boots.
In a post on X, he added: ‘I’m sad that it’s over. But so very happy that it happened. Thank you all!’
Daniels former teammate and longtime friend Frankie Kazarian paid tribute to his pal after the announcement.
‘There’s no way to articulate what @facdaniels means to me. As an opponent, a tag team partner, or most importantly as a best friend and brother,’ he wrote on X. ‘His contributions to our sport will never be realized. I love you CD. Bad Influence, The Addiction or SCU. I loved every single minute.’
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Kaz previously opened up about how he and others like Daniels were ‘vocal’ behind the scenes in TNA, in an attempt to help the company ‘be better’ – even if it led to the former being suspended.
‘Chris got similar trouble because he was vocal. But it wasn’t just to be – we weren’t being vocal for the sake of being vocal, we were doing it because we wanted things to be better,’ he told Metro.
‘That was taking as us complaining or b****ing. I was a younger man back then and I probably didn’t go about it as diplomatically as I could have or as I would have now.’
Daniels has been wrestling for almost 32 years (Picture: AEW/Ricky Havlik)
Daniels started wrestling in 1993, rising to prominent with Ring of Honor and TNA, while also working early matches for WWE and WCW.
Alongside the likes of AJ Styles, the Motor City Machine Guns, Kazarian and Samoa Joe, he helped pioneer the X-Division, which in turn influenced the modern style of wrestling.
He joined AEW when WWE’s rival company launched in 2019, appearing as an on-screen wrestler, and working in Talent Relations behind the scenes.
Hurt Syndicate are already holding gold in AEW (Picture: AEW/Lee South)
Elsewhere on this week’s Dynamite, there was a major title change as the Hurt Syndicate – known in WWE as the Hurt Business – capture the AEW World Tag Team Championships.
Wrestling veterans Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin beat Private Party on Wednesday night to win the gold.
Although Benjamin has held tag gold before, most famously with Charlie Haas, this reign marks the first time the All Mighty has won as a duo.
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