TNA – Heaven Sent, Hell Bound: The Best of Christopher Daniels DVD Review

TNA – Heaven Sent, Hell Bound: The Best of Christopher Daniels

Review by Jacob Ziegler

Introduction

First off, just so everyone knows, I am selling some of my masters I no longer need, so if anyone is interested in some stuff, shoot me an e-mail.

Also, I am looking for all episodes of Xplosion, any Impact episodes from the Internet and Spike TV, and old weekly pay-per-views past October of 2002. If anyone can help me out there I would be very appreciative.

Anyway, on to the DVD, as Christopher Daniels welcomes us to this TNA DVD release. He puts himself over and introduces the first match, which wouldn’t turn into anything due to his Japanese commitments. But when he came back he formed Triple X, who would go on to feud with America’s Most Wanted.

Oh, and one more thing. Most of the matches on this DVD are clipped, but I have seen each of the real versions of these matches, so my star ratings will reflect the full match, not that clipped version that appears on the disc.

MATCH #1: Elimination Contender’s Match – Low Ki vs. Elix Skipper vs. Kid Romeo vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Tony Mamaluke vs. Jerry Lynn, TNA Weekly PPV #4, 7.10.02

I’ve actually reviewed this match before, but since this is a clipped version I’ll re-review it and comment only on what they show here. Romeo and Daniels start. The winner of this match gets a shot at the X-Division title next week. We’re clipped to the end now with everyone eliminated except Low Ki and Daniels. That’s pretty irritating. They do a series of pinning combinations, not all of which work and the referee thankfully doesn’t count the ones where the shoulders were not down. Ki locks on the Dragon Clutch but Daniels escapes. Daniels hits a big palm strike and hits the Iconoclasm, which Tenay dubs the “Fall from Grace.” Daniels goes for the Last Rites but Ki reverses and gets the Ki Krusher ’99 to get the win at 6:22 shown (full version is 21:31). The guts were taken right out of that match, but the full version is quite good.
Rating: ***½

MATCH #2: NWA World Tag Team Title Match – Christopher Daniels & Low Ki vs. America’s Most Wanted, TNA Weekly PPV #35, 3.12.03

The belts were held-up at this point as a result of a match between Triple X and the New Church, but due to a tournament America’s Most Wanted ended up getting the shot at taking the titles from Triple X. We’re not sure which two members of Triple X will work the match at first. They show the whole intro, but the match is still clipped. I think they showed the intro though to illustrate that Triple X could use any two of their three team members. We end up with Daniels and Ki representing Triple X and it’s on right away. Daniels takes control and we get clipped to a near fall on Harris. Tenay indicates that Skipper interfered somewhere during the clip. AMW fights back and Harris puts the Sharpshooter on Daniels. Skipper brings in a chair but Storm knocks him out. The referee is distracted while Daniels taps out, allowing Ki to break up the Sharpshooter, allowing Daniels to bring in the belt, which ends up backfiring on him. Harris gets caught with the belt, which allows Low Ki to sneak in from the other end and nail Harris with it and Triple X regain the titles at 3:57 shown (full version is 11:51). That was the usual solid match between these two teams.
Rating: ***¼

MATCH #3: Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper vs. America’s Most Wanted, TNA Weekly PPV #41, 4.23.03

Skipper apologizes to Triple X fans, because there will be no tag team match tonight. I gather that Harris is injured and Storm will have to wrestle the match himself, and Skipper doesn’t believe he’s dumb enough to try it. Storm hits the ring a house-a-fire and we get a quick clip. Jerry Lynn and Amazing Red are the Tag Team Champions at this point. Storm soon falls victim to the numbers game, as it is two on one. Harris makes his way out and we get another clip. Skipper and Daniels get he win soon after when Skipper pins Harris to earn a tag team title shot at 6:28 shown (full version is 11:06). That was pretty pedestrian stuff for these teams.
Rating: **¼

MATCH #4: NWA World Tag Team Title Match – Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper vs. AJ Styles & D-Lo Brown, TNA Weekly PPV #44, 5.14.03

This match is not clipped at all, a welcome change. AJ Styles and D-Lo Brown are doing their mentor-student relationship here. They’re getting a tag team title shot because they won three straight matches as a team. Low Ki is on the outside of the ring to help his Triple X brothers. AJ and D-Lo have some matching gear and pretty good chemistry as a team. They do some of their usual stuff with a few high spots tossed in. Glenn Gilberti comes out at the end of the match to knock out Styles and Triple X retain at 8:55. That was pretty short and underwhelming, but not bad or anything.
Rating: **½

MATCH #5: NWA World Tag Team Title Match – Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper vs. America’s Most Wanted, TNA Weekly PPV #49, 6.18.03

I’ve reviewed this match in full before on another DVD review, but once again, I’ll be re-reviewing due to the clips. We cut backstage where Daniels and Skipper are beating up the challengers to their titles. Low Ki leads the champions into the ring, carrying the titles for his team. Ki injured his shoulder several weeks prior at a ROH/FWA joint show called “Frontiers of Honor” in England. Daniels cuts a promo putting over the dominance of Sports Entertainment Extreme, and how S.E. is the new tradition. AMW come out and the battle is on outside the ring. Storm and Skipper have a kick battle inside the ring. The heels dominate for a while and we get a clip to all four men in the ring brawling. Ki throws a belt to Daniels, which Storm ducks and nails Daniels with a superkick. AMW hits the Death Sentence on Daniels, but Skipper pulls the referee outside the ring to break it up and Ki distracts him, allowing Skipper to hit Storm with the belt and Triple X retains at 3:35 shown (7:03 full time). Clipping sucked, as is becoming the theme, but the full match is really good, especially given how short it was.
Rating: ***½

MATCH #6: Steel Cage Match for the NWA World Tag Team Titles – Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper vs. America’s Most Wanted, TNA Weekly PPV #50, 6.25.03

We get to see the full intros, including Lollipop. Damn I miss her. This was actually TNA’s first steel cage match. We cut to Harris going for the Catatonic but Daniels reverses to the Angel’s Wings. We get another clip shortly after and Daniels hits the Last Rites on Storm but Harris breaks up the pin. Harris hits a big spear on Daniels from the top rope and we’re clipped again. Skipper gets knocked out of the cage, which gives AMW a 2-on-1 advantage in the ring. Storm hits a superkick and they clip it again. Skipper tries to get back in the ring but AMW knocks him back down. AMW sets Daniels up for the Death Sentence off the top of the cage, and that gives AMW their third tag team title at 3:33. The clipping does no justice to the match, as the full version is 17:49 and awesome.
Rating: ****¼

MATCH #7: Best of 3 Series #1 – Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper vs. America’s Most Wanted, TNA Weekly PPV #106, 8.11.04

This is over a year after the steel cage match. We get a video package to set up this series of matches, the winner of which gets a World Tag Team Title shot and bragging rights. Tenay puts over AMW’s four reigns as tag team champions since they went a total of seven months, which is not actually impressive at all. The ring is six-sided now. They go a minute or so until the first clip, and Triple X is in control. Harris fires up and we get a clip to him almost pinning Daniels with a rollup. They run and collide and both men fall down. Storm gets a spear and pins Daniels at 2:50 shown (real match ran 9:34). That was pretty okay, but not up to the level of their 2003 stuff.
Rating: **¼

MATCH #8: Best of 3 Series #2 – Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper vs. America’s Most Wanted, TNA Weekly PPV #107, 8.18.04

They do intros and clip the match right away to AMW taking heat on Skipper. Daniels’s shoulder is taped up here. Daniels and Skipper gain control, and Daniels hits a standing moonsault and we get a clip. Daniels takes the babyface fire in an odd twist. He goes for the Angel’s Wings, but Storm breaks it up with a kick to the shoulder. Daniels gets pissed because he thinks they’re taking advantage of his injury. Storm and Skipper tumble to the outside, while Daniels rolls up Harris to get the pin at 2:13 shown (9:05 real time). This was a little worse than the previous matchup, which makes me nervous about match three.
Rating: **

MATCH #9: Best of 3 Series #3 – Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper vs. America’s Most Wanted, TNA Weekly PPV #108, 8.25.04

Just the intro for Triple X this time, and we get our first clip. Triple X is dominating but AMW fights back and Storm hits a nasty superkick on Daniels. They set up for the Death Sentence but it gets broken up. Storm and Skipper go outside while Daniels sets up Harris for the Angel’s Wings. The Naturals then interfere and toss powder in Daniels’s and Harris’s eyes, and then hit them both with chair shots and Rudy Charles calls for the bell. The match is a no-contest at 2:54 shown (11:42 real time). I hate best of three’s that end with lame cop-out finishes.
Rating: *¾

MATCH #10: Christopher Daniels vs. Chris Harris, TNA Impact, 8.27.04

This match is actually not clipped at all, but it does have a commercial break. But this is as full as the match is going to get, so it’s definitive if you ask me. Since AMW and XXX tied in their best of three series, we get this singles match to try and decide things. Storm is injured, so Harris is representing his team. Larry Zbyszko is the judge tonight, so there should be a decision here if they go to a time-limit draw. Harris is in control as we take a commercial break and they are fighting outside the ring when we come back. The clock starts winding down and both guys are going for pinning combinations and Harris gets a big superplex right when the time runs out at 7:23 (but 10:00 with the commercial break). I like that time limit draw, as opposed to one guy going for the pin and having the bell ring at two. Judge Zbyszko comes out and announces that both teams are winners and will get a shot in a three-way match on the Wednesday pay-per-view. This was better than all the tag team matches from this period.
Rating: ***

MATCH #11: Steel Cage Match – Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper vs. America’s Most Wanted, TNA Turning Point, 12.5.04

I’ve reviewed this one as well, let’s see what the hatchet job does to it. We get the full hype video, that’s nice. The losing team will not be allowed to team up anymore, while the winners get to call themselves the best tag team in TNA history. Thank goodness this match was the main event instead of that AWFUL six man tag team match “featuring” Randy Savage. They barely start and we get our first clip. Another clip soon follows, and I see Harris handcuffed to the top turnbuckle as Skipper grates his face against the cage. Storm makes a big comeback and we get another clip. This is when Skipper pulls off the rope-walk head scissors off the top of the cage. That was, without hyperbole, one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen in a wrestling match. Skipper will never again do anything that cool. We’re clipped to the Tower of Doom spot that almost killed Daniels, and then they clip again. The mat is just covered in blood. Daniels gets handcuffed to the top turnbuckle now and AMW calls for Triple X’s own finisher, the Power-Plex (or Revelations to ROH fans), and AMW gets the win and right to remain a tag team at 10:08 shown (full match time is 21:01). That was even better than their first cage match, which was great to begin with.
Rating: ****½

Daniels rejoins us to talk about how great the XXX vs. AMW feud was. He mentions that it was the Match of the Year, as voted on by TNA fans. He said he was now going to turn his focus to the X-Division, which is really where he belongs. He mentions his nemesis AJ Styles.

MATCH #12: Christopher Daniels vs. Buck Quartermain, TNA Impact, 1.21.05

This match is not clipped. That’s because there’s not much to clip, as Daniels gets the win with the Last Rites at 0:56. I’m not sure what about that match merited putting it on a “best of” DVD. Daniels grabs the microphone and says that AJ Styles is protected by TNA and shown favoritism by Dusty Rhodes. He calls out AJ, the X-Division Champion. The champ obliges, and Daniels challenges him to a match, giving him 10 minutes to “shut his mouth.” The deal is that if AJ can beat Daniels in 10 minutes then he’ll walk away, but if he can’t beat him in 10, then Daniels gets a title shot on the Against All Odds pay-per-view. Dusty Rhodes agrees.
Rating: ¼*

MATCH #13: Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles, TNA Impact, 1.21.05

This match is not clipped either, but it does contain a commercial break. There is a judge in attendance tonight, but given the stipulation a judge is unnecessary. They do some mat wrestling to start as the commentators are putting over the time limit pretty big. AJ hits his big dropkick. Daniels takes advantage outside the ring as we head to a commercial break. We’re back and Daniels has a chinlock on AJ, who escapes it but Daniels maintains control. Jeff Hammond is also on commentary, perhaps just to irritate me. AJ makes the big comeback but the clock is winding down. The crowd is getting into all the new falls as Daniels successfully avoids AJ as the time runs out at 7:16 shown (full match without commercial is 10:00). I really liked the gimmick of that match and how they built towards a PPV match without giving too much away.
Rating: ***½

MATCH #14: 30-Minute Iron Man Match for the TNA X-Division Title – Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles, TNA Against All Odds, 2.13.05

The video package for this match is pretty cool, with some split screen stuff and some good clips. I’ve seen this match a few times, and rest assured it rules. Tenay says that this is the firs time the two have met in TNA, but I distinctly remember them wrestling to a 10-minute draw on Impact a few weeks before this, which is how Daniels earned this title shot. Therefore Tenay’s claim is erroneous, on both counts. AJ goes for some quick falls right away. AJ works on the arm for a while, until Daniels takes over and goes to work on the midsection. After a bunch of stuff, Daniels hits the Angel’s Wings to score the first pinfall at 14:07. This is going pretty good at the halfway mark. I’m not doing much play-by-play here, if you haven’t noticed. It’s not really my thing. AJ hits the Angel’s Wings but Daniels kicks out. Don West says that if you’re not impressed you have no soul. That seems a little extreme. Daniels continues to dominate until AJ gets a flash pin at 23:58 to tie it up at one fall apiece. AJ gets busted open outside the ring as we are inside of five minutes to go. Daniels dominates the bloody AJ Styles. We’re under one minute now and AJ is firing up. Daniels catches AJ with the Flatliner and locks on the Koji Clutch with about 40 seconds to go. AJ doesn’t give up though, and we are at an impasse after thirty minutes. Daniels isn’t satisfied with that though, and he wants sudden death. AJ hits the Styles Clash in 1:37 of the overtime period, for a grand total of 31:37. That was a fantastic match with lots of great stuff in it. I’m not such a fan of the overtime finish though (like, why book a 30 minute match and then have it go longer than 30?), but it was still quite good.
Rating: ****¼

MATCH #15: Christopher Daniels vs. Chris Sabin, TNA Impact, 3.11.05

The winner of this match advances to the Ultimate X Challenge at the Destination X pay-per-view. Since this is an Impact match, so there’s no clipping. The action starts off fast, with neither man really gaining sustained control. Daniels goes for a springboard something, but Sabin hits a dropkick. Sabin is my favorite TNA wrestler, by the way. He hits a nice hurricanrana. AJ is on guest commentary here, and he’s pretty much rooting for Sabin. Daniels uses the referee to block the Cradle Shock and he hits Angel’s Wings to get the win at 3:51. That was fine for the time given, but they had a much better match on TV a few months prior to this.
Rating: **

MATCH #16: Ultimate X Match for the TNA X-Division Title – AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels, TNA Destination X, 3.13.05

This is just the final fall of a three-tiered Ultimate X Challenge. The first part was a tag team match with Styles & Elix Skipper beating Daniels & Ron Killings (who took the fall and was thus eliminated), and the second part was a three-way with Styles vs. Daniels vs. Skipper with Daniels pinning Skipper after double-crossing him. This leaves just AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels in an Ultimate X match, which is where the match starts on this DVD. Daniels goes for the belt right away. The referee gets bumped and AJ goes up and grabs the title. But since the referee can’t see it, Daniels gives AJ the Angel’s Wings and grabs the belt, and the referee awards him the match at 7:50 shown (full time is 25:19) to win the X-Division Championship. That’s a good finish, and I think it’s fair because Daniels knocked AJ out long enough to pin him.
Rating: ***¾

Daniels is back to gloat about winning his first X-Division Championship. Daniels introduces the next phase of his career, which features him defending the X Title.

MATCH #17: Non Title Match – Christopher Daniels vs. Jerrelle Clark, TNA Impact, 3.18.05

This is Daniels’s first match as champion, but the title is not on the line. Clark gets a few rollups but Daniels mostly dominates. Daniels gets the win with the Angel’s Wings in short order at 2:37. No clipping was necessary. Match was nothing more than a squash and I’m not sure why it was included on a “best of” compilation. Daniels cuts a promo after the match putting himself over, and he humbly accepts the title “Mr. TNA.” This brings out his former partner, “Primetime” Elix Skipper. He mocks Daniels and says that he knows him better than anyone.
Rating: ½*

MATCH #18: TNA X-Division Title Match – Christopher Daniels vs. Elix Skipper, TNA Lockdown, 4.24.05

This was Daniels’s first title defense on TNA TV. Skipper won a four-way elimination match on Impact over Petey Williams, Matt Bentley, and Chris Sabin. I’ve reviewed this match before but it’s clipped to about a third of its original length so I’ll re-review it (but will retain my original rating). Tenay says that Daniels has defended his title in both England and Ireland. I would love to know the dates and opponents of those matches if anyone knows them. They do some mat wrestling to start, illustrating how well they know each other. We get a clip and Daniels climbs to the top of the cage, so Skipper teases doing the cage walk. He settles for a big body press off the top of the cage. Daniels recovers and goes for Angel’s Wings, but Skipper reverses to the Sudden Impact, which Daniels reverses to the Angel’s wings to get the win at 5:31 shown (15:23 real time). The match was fine but I’ve never really been into Skipper and it never felt like he had a chance of winning the title.
Rating: ***¼

MATCH #19: TNA X-Division Title Match – Christopher Daniels vs. Shocker, TNA Hard Justice, 5.15.05

I’ve never cared much for Shocker, and the video package doesn’t make me care anymore. We get a clip before the match even starts proper, and Shocker has Daniels in an STF type move. They battle up to the top rope and Daniels hits the Angel’s Wings from up there to get the pin at 1:57 shown (12:00 is the real time). I’ve seen the full match and it’s okay. Though I do wonder what the point of showing less than two minutes of a 12 minute match is.
Rating: ***

MATCH #20: Three-Way Elimination TNA X-Division Title Match – Christopher Daniels vs. Chris Sabin vs. Matt Bentley, TNA Slammiversary, 6.19.05

Trinity and Traci are in the corners of the challengers. This is elimination rules. Daniels wasn’t really feuding with either of these guys, but they were feuding with each other, hence we have this three-way. I’ll be reviewing this match in full pretty soon, so I probably won’t end up saying much about it here. Traci Brooks hugged me one time a few years ago. That was fun. Traci and Trinity get involved, which leads to a cool spot where Daniels threatens to give Trinity the Angel’s Wings while Sabin has Bentley in the Cradle Shock. Sabin decides to eliminate Bentley with his finisher, so Daniels hits his finisher on Trinity. Sabin deems that an acceptable sacrifice. Daniels ends up hitting the Angel’s Wings to put Sabin away at 12:36 shown (real match time was 17:06). It was pretty good when Bentley was around, and it got better when he left.
Rating: ***½

MATCH #21: Non Title Match – Christopher Daniels vs. Elix Skipper, TNA Impact 6.24.05

This is from the first-ever episode if Impact on the internet, when they had no TV deal in the U.S. Skipper decides to hide up by the entrance to get an advantage on Daniels. I’ve never seen this match before and it’s uncut. Skipper gets the early advantage and gives Daniels a hiptoss on the floor. Back in the ring and Skipper maintains control. Daniels comes back though and we take a commercial break. When we come back Daniels is still dominating. They do some back and forth, which West compares to a ping-pong game. Daniels eventually locks on the Koji Clutch and Skipper taps out at 12:09. That was a very good TV match and at least as good as their match from the Lockdown pay-per-view.
Rating: ***¼

Daniels comes back one last time to put himself over

BONUS MATCH: Christopher Daniels vs. Danny Dominion, Windy City Pro Wrestling, May 1994

This is a really cool bonus feature, as it’s a match from early in Daniels’s career, and has nothing to do with TNA. Ace Steel comes out with Danny Dominion, and he looks ridiculous. Daniels has the light heavyweight title with him, and he has hair. Daniels and Jeremy Borash are on commentary here. Daniels has ridiculous gear. He talks about his influences and how he got started and stuff, and this is almost a backdrop to a mini-shoot interview. Daniels winds up getting the win with a moonsault, which was not yet the best ever. Daniels takes a beat down after the match. That was a fun little match and a great addition to the DVD.
Rating: **¼

Lastly, there’s a Fallen Angel music slideshow, which is just random images of Daniels set to his theme music. There are some pretty good pictures in there.

The 411: I’m pretty sure this has been mentioned elsewhere, even in this very review, but the clipping of this DVD is inexcusable. There are 21 “matches” on this set, and that is just too many, unless you wanted to spread it out over two discs. Many of the matches have no right being here at all. Some of the Impact matches (Styles, Skipper) were a welcome addition, but why show two minutes of the Shocker match? It would have made sense to just really show the important matches in full. I have several of the clipped matches on other DVDs, so I wasn’t as upset as some people might be when they buy this DVD. Hopefully, TNA learns their lesson and does not clip their DVDs anymore. There is some good stuff here though, so I am recommending it, but there is a TON of room to improve this set.

Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]