AEW star reveals that he faked an injury after getting taken out by The Young Bucks

A top AEW name and executive has shed light on maintaining the illusion of a major injury that he suffered during a match with The Young Bucks a few years ago. The star in question, Christopher Daniels, wrestled his retirement bout this past January.

Back in 2021, The Fallen Angel and his SoCal Uncensored stable-mate Frankie Kazarian were feuding with The Elite on AEW programming. The duo tried to unseat the All Elite Wrestling EVPs for their World Tag Team Championships on the May 12, 2021 edition of Dynamite, but unfortunately fell short, which forced SCU to disband as a team as per the stipulation that Daniels and Kazarian had agreed upon prior to the match.

During the aforementioned bout, CD had sustained a bloody injury around his eye. During his recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, the veteran recalled that though the actual bruise had healed in a few days, Daniels had wanted to keep a storyline going built around the injury.

“So, news flash, that was never real. So I had the match with The Young Bucks, all right, and all of you that are watching now, you’re gonna feel this. So I had the match with The Young Bucks where SCU split up. I got super kicked into the post, and the next day, I had this huge black eye, and it started to fill with blood. I thought, Man, that’s pretty cool. Then three days later, it healed. I was like, Oh, that’s too bad, but then I thought, what if?"

The AEW Head of Talent Relations reminisced on asking Abadon to connect him with a contact lens designer, and his idea for the look and the symbolism behind his kayfabe injured eye.

“I was like, Listen, this is what I want. I just want to make it look like a hemorrhage. I had pitched this idea of I had lost everything. I made this video that I presented to AEW and Tony. And I was like, Hey, here’s the story. I was the ring general, but my plans failed, and because of that, SCU is no longer a thing, and now I have this scar to show for my failure." [H/T - WrestleTalk]

Daniels proceeded to relate how there was no payoff to the storyline in question, leading to its eventual dismissal.

AEW executive Christopher Daniels on how his retirement match came about

This past January at Collision : Maximum Carnage, Christopher Daniels unsuccessfully battled Adam Page in a brutal Texas Death Match, which in kayfabe forced him into retirement. During his interview with Chris Van Vliet, the former ROH World Champion talked about having discussed the idea with The Cowboy, and revealed that the latter had personally spoken to Tony Khan to materialize the angle.

"He was in the midst of the thing with Swerve. He was just starting this thing with Jay White. And I was like, 'Hey, man, what if you ended my career?... Near the end of the year, he (Hangman) was like, 'I went to Tony, and I think we're going to do this thing with you and me.' I was like, oh, okay, cool. So, I mean, if it wasn't for Hangman asking for that, I don't think it would happen." [H/T: Chrisvanvliet.com]

Daniels' retirement effectively jumpstarted The Hangman's redemption arc, which is set to culminate in his Texas Death Match against Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship at All In : Texas.