Daniel Garcia On His AEW Match With CM Punk, How The Blade Is Like a Father Figure To Him

In a recent interview on AEW Unrestricted, Daniel Garcia discussed his AEW match with CM Punk, how The Blade is a father figure to him, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Daniel Garcia on his match with CM Punk: “That was pretty cool. CM Punk is someone who I obviously watched for probably 15 years of my life at this point. I really looked up to that guy for a very long time. He’s one of my favorite wrestlers and still probably is. He’s my mom’s favorite wrestler too. When he came in, I was thinking, ‘Man, it would be cool if I got to wrestle CM Punk. It would be like a dream come true for me.’ When me and 2point0 attacked him on his second appearance back I think, it was the first time there was any physical contact with CM Punk in the ring in seven years. Then we didn’t touch upon that for a couple of weeks. I was like, maybe I won’t get to wrestle him for a little bit. Then they announced on Dynamite when I was just sitting backstage, and he called me out. I checked my phone and I was like, I guess I’m wrestling CM Punk on Rampage this week. I wrestled him and it was a great learning experience for me. It showed me a lot about simple, easy storytelling. Not everything has to be hard wrestling.  It’s very easy if you let it be.”

Daniel Garcia on getting his start on AEW Dark: “People just end up reaching out to you. I think you develop a lot of independent clout or notoriety, and people end up hitting you up. I think The Blade, Pepper Parks, one of my trainers, I think was able to put in a good word for me. I’m sure that didn’t harm the cause at all, but I think that’s how it came together. They were looking for high-profile indie wrestlers that they could put on their show and give an opportunity to. That plus the recommendation I think went a long way.”

On learning from The Blade and how he is like a father figure: “I learned so much from Pepper. I didn’t really have a father figure growing up. My father wasn’t really around. He passed away when I was young, so Pepper was one of the first father figures, I feel like, I had in my life. He’s 20 something years older than me, but he’s somebody I can always go to for advice in and out of wrestling, like life advice but also just advice in the ring. He’s somebody who is very comforting, and somebody who is very helpful, and somebody who is always willing to go the extra mile to make sure that somebody is comfortable and to make sure that somebody is just on the right path. He’s someone who was like a role model. I grew up watching Pepper too. He was on all those indie shows that I would go to growing up. I have pictures with him as a fan. From me just being a fan of his and then him being kind of a role model figure and a positive male figure in my life, it’s a cool transition. And sometimes I’ll just be having a normal conversation with him, I’ll be like, man, this Pepper Parks. That’s pretty cool.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit AEW Unrestricted with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.