It’s been five months since “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels and Kazarian (collectively known as Bad Influence) lost the Total Nonstop Action World Tag Team Championship to Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez. Though Daniels and Kazarian have remained in each other’s corners, they’ve focused on their singles careers since losing the tag titles. But at Lockdown Bad Influence finally gets a shot at regaining the belts in a three-way match that includes Guerrero and Hernandez as well as the current champs Bobby Roode and Austin Aries. With Lockdown shaping up to be one of TNA’s biggest pay-per-views to date, and TNA taking Impact Wrestling live on the road beginning March 14, Daniels is one of many members of the company’s roster who is ready to help take TNA to the next level in the wrestling world. As he prepares for his Lockdown match and leaving the Impact Zone, Daniels is a bit more serious (but no less confident) than usual as he takes a moment to talk to Wrestling with Pop Culture.

You’re going into Lockdown with a little bit of momentum, given that you, Kazarian and Gail Kim defeated Chavo Guerrero, Hernandez and Velvet Sky. What are your expectations for your three-way tag team match for the TNA Tag Team Championship?

As much as I respect Chavo and Shawn, and as much as I respect Bobby and Austin, we’re really the best team of the three. So it’s just a matter of playing to our strengths. We’ve been together longer, we’ve got better chemistry than either one of those teams, so we’re really just going in there with the mindset that we’re going to walk out with the Tag Team Championship again.

Lockdown is, of course, the first pay-per-view for TNA since scaling back to only four pay-per-views a year. And it’s being held at the Alamodome, which is a much larger venue than TNA is used to. Do you know how well tickets have sold?

Dixie Carter announced on Twitter that Lockdown will have the highest attendance for us in the United States. It’s going to be bigger than Slammiversary, which was a big deal for us last year in Arlington. So Lockdown could very well end up being our most-attended event in TNA history.

The following Thursday will be the first live Impact Wrestling event outside of the Impact Zone, so these are exciting times for TNA.

We’re all really excited. I think changing from 12 pay-per-views a year to four live pay-per-views gives us an opportunity to build up to things at a slower pace, and it gives everybody an opportunity to catch up with all the goings-on and hopefully build more anticipation for some of these top matches. With Impact going live on the road there’s more energy because there are new fans. After a while, we’ve been playing to kind of the same crowd at the Impact Zone and it’s gotten harder and harder to excite that crowd. So going out on the road and seeing new fans every week, this will be the first time a lot of them are seeing TNA’s television product live. We, as wrestlers, feed off the energy of the crowd, you’re definitely going to see us step up our game and put on more energized matches, which will help the product improve.

When Impact has been on the road in the past, whether it was being taped in Europe or at arenas in the U.S., it’s had a much bigger feel than it does in the Impact Zone. So I’m looking forward to seeing how that translates when you do that live from different venues.

A lot of that has to do with the fact that we’re in actual arenas rather than just a sound stage; there’s more space, there’s room for more fans and it’s more of an arena atmosphere. But, like I said, it also lends itself to the energy of the crowd. For a lot of these people we’re going to go see in Chicago, Jonesboro, Arkansas and the other dates that have been announced, this will be the first time that we’ve ever done television there. So there’s definitely going to be a newness to the audience coming to see us and that’s going to translate into excitement and energy and we feed off of that as performers.

For those who have been to live Impact tapings or even TNA house shows, how will these live Impact shows on the road compare to what we’ve seen previously?

It’s definitely a different vibe. Our live events are very exciting, but all we are interested in at that point is entertaining the crowd that’s in that building. On television, however, we’re playing to the cameras and the crowd. So we want to entertain the people watching at home, but we’re also interested in entertaining the people that are right there in front of us. We use that crowd that’s in front of us to translate that energy to the fans watching at home. So if we can get those people pumped up about the product, you can’t help but watch it at home and think, ‘This is really exciting, compelling television to be watching.”

As you’ve pointed out previously, you’ve been with TNA off-and-on since its inception. Having been so loyal to the company, and now being integral to its growth, would you rather continue to help take TNA to new heights or, were the opportunity to arise, do you ever see yourself going to WWE?

I’ve always said I’d never say “never” in terms of WWE, but I have to be honest and look at how long I’ve been doing this and how old I am now and look at WWE’s hiring practices at this point. I just don’t think we would be a good fit for each other. But the truth of the matter is I’m very happy with Impact Wrestling right now. It’s been very good to me and I feel like right now I’m doing some of the best work of my career. The creative team has been very supportive with all the stuff I’ve been doing with Bad Influence. They’ve put a lot of effort behind us, so I feel very loyal to the company in that respect. Right now we’re just scratching the surface of what we can do as a team and what we can do as a top-tier act. My immediate goals are to continue being the best tag team not only in Impact Wrestling, but in professional wrestling overall, and helping make Impact grow as we go on the road and try and build these television markets and make our television show more and more acceptable to the wrestling fan base.

Now that you will be on the road more, are there any particular cities you’re looking forward to wrestling for?

As a California guy I’m very partial to going out to the West Coast and doing some shows there. I don’t think Impact has had as much impact, so to speak, on the West Coast as we could. I look forward to maybe going to Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and cities around there. A return to Las Vegas would be great. I know that a long time ago we taped out there and with this particular crew in charge I think we’ll do a lot better if we return to Las Vegas. We need to go back to the Northeast, as well, because there’s a very strong, hardcore wrestling fan base there that would support our television show. No matter where we go, it’s going to be an opportunity to build on this momentum that we’ve gotten in the last couple of months. When I talk to Frankie, we’re in the groove right now, we’re firing on all cylinders and I feel like we’ve become one of the more entertaining parts of our television show. I’m just going to keep riding that horse.

Win or lose on Sunday, who are some other tag teams you’d like to face in the near future?

We’re open for business, man. The good thing about me and Frankie is we’ve brought a lot more attention to our tag team scene. That was one of the reasons that Chavo Guerrero specifically came to TNA was the opportunity to tag with Shawn against me and Frankie. But I love to see guys like the Young Bucks, who have performed with TNA in the past, come back to TNA and get involved with us in a long-term feud. In the last year we’ve wrestled guys like Kurt [Angle] and AJ [Styles], Kurt and Ken Anderson, Rob Van Dam, so anyone on the roster now that wants to put a team together is welcome to step up to us.

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