Christopher Daniels And Kazarian Discuss The Current State Of Pro Wrestling
Christopher Daniels and Kazarian have each spent over 20 years in this business and have seen it all. The long-time TNA stars are currently with Ring of Honor where they participated in New Japan's Fighting Spirit Unleashed event on Sunday.
After Daniels and Kazarian were victorious in a tag match over Hangman Page and Chase Owens, the duo was interviewed by Wrestling Inc where they discussed the current state of the wrestling business.
"Wrestling is enjoying a renaissance in popularity," said Kazarian. "Companies like ROH and New Japan having more and more success in the last couple of years. It's a great feeling to know that we're in a position to enjoy great success because there are so many companies that want the opportunity to build up their reputation in the States.
"New Japan is probably the most famous foreign promotion to come to the States and have success and we're just proud to be a part of that."
"We were both fortunate to be around when independent wrestling was very popular," Daniels stated. "When mainstream wrestling was very popular, in 97-98 when wrestling was white-hot. High tide raises all ships so independent wrestling followed suit and was very hot before falling off a bit. So now 14, 15 years later it's experiencing not only a renaissance, but a reinvention. It's really cool for me and my best friend to be part of that first boom and now an integral part of this boom. I don't know if I've even been more optimistic about my future and the future of the wrestling business in my career."
The Fighting Spirit Unleashed event took place in Long Beach, CA and California has hosted all three New Japan U.S. shows on American soil this year. Kazarian and Daniels were asked if they would like to see New Japan expand out of California.
"I'm partial to SoCal but that's just me," said Kazarian who resides in the Los Angeles area.
"I'm happy to see New Japan spread their influence across the United States," followed Daniels. "I think we've already seen a step with that when ROH uses New Japan talent in places like Chicago, New York and Boston. We've seen great success with ROH and New Japan sort of co-promoting. It's just another step forward for New Japan to try and run their own show on the east coast somewhere. MSG in April-ROH and New Japan co-promoting a show [G1 Supercard]-sold out. That says it all. The most famous arena in the world sold out, like that. I look forward to more."