AEW talent Daniel Garcia recently went One on One with Jon Alba, and explained why he chose to become “All Elite.” Garcia also issued a statement to his critics, and more. Check out Daniel’s comments below.
On signing with AEW:
“You always gotta bet on yourself. You always have to bet on yourself. I never wanted to be the guy to sign somewhere just to say I got a big contract. I don’t want to go somewhere and be a body, and I don’t want to go somewhere that doesn’t have a plan for me. Obviously, I had opportunities in a bunch of places, and the timing just didn’t feel right. I can’t explain it. I don’t know why. I feel like my mom has given me very good intuition in life, and the timing just didn’t feel right for a lot of those places. She helped me grow up and helped me to take my time and not rush into things and not to rush the process. The past year or so, a bunch of opportunities arose, but I knew that I didn’t want to go anywhere just to say I got a contract. I wanted to go somewhere and instantly be a top player, and I want to be a major play in whatever company I decided to go to. Also, in a non-selfish way, I knew I didn’t want to go somewhere until, one, the indies were in a better position than when I found them and, two, until I felt like I was undoubtedly the best wrestler on the independent circuit. For a while, the independents were looking a little bit weak and not a lot of talent was there, but over the past couple of months, a bunch of very talented people have come through and made names for themselves like Bryan Keith, Mysterious Q, YOYA, Janai Kai. I feel like we can leave indie wrestling alone now. I don’t think they need me. For a while, selfishly, I was like, ‘Man, they need me here to help teach people, they need me here to be a draw and better the product.’ I feel like I definitely accomplished my goal of being regarded as the best wrestler on the independents. I was happy to step away for the time being.”
On critics who believe he is lacking in charisma:
“I really feel like I can be a Swiss army knife of a performer. I really feel like I can do that. I see a lot of people on Twitter saying things like ‘Daniel Garcia has no personality. Daniel Garcia has no charisma. Daniel Garcia can’t talk.’ First of all, from what I have shown so far in AEW that’s not true, if you think that’s true you’re watching on a very surface level. But I feel like, if you think that now, once I get the ball rolling a little more and give me a few months, there’s not a person on planet Earth that will be saying that about me. I think a lot of people think that in wrestling, personality is just being loud. That’s a personality, but that’s not what every personality is. Being stoic and calm and calculated, that’s a personality too. If that’s presented in a good way, that’s just as good as any other personality in wrestling.”
