DANIEL GARCIA

“Red Death” Daniel Garcia is among the generation of wrestlers who came up in a world already influenced by Ring of Honor. The style presented by ROH, the competitors who had come through the ranks since 2002, it all influenced the landscape of professional wrestling, and the aspirations of the men and women who entered into locker rooms around the world since THE ERA OF HONOR BEGINS.

As Garcia honed his skills around the independent wrestling world, he studied the tapes from Ring of Honor and was clearly influenced by the style of one “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson. Unfortunately for Garcia, he was never able to enter into an ROH ring prior to the end of an era that was FINAL BATTLE 2021, and in fact his career very nearly ended well before that following a terrifying car wreck while traveling for his bookings in 2019.

Instead of it being the end, Garcia recovered and worked hard than ever before, catching the notice of All Elite Wrestling, and eventually becoming an official member of the AEW locker room alongside Matt Menard and Angelo Parker. Bouts with Jon Moxley, Darby Allin, Eddie Kingston, and even his hero Bryan Danielson showed the entire wrestling world what kind of competitor “Red Death” could be, or at least the kind of pro wrestler it was assumed Garcia wanted to be.

Instead, despite a clear message from Danielson that he had his eye on Garcia as one of the young talent he'd take under his wing, Daniel aligned himself with Chris Jericho and his Jericho Appreciation Society, following Menard and Parker into those ranks, while donning the hat of a Sports Entertainer to take up the fight against the professional wrestlers of The Blackpool Combat Club, a group who counted “The American Dragon” among its founding fathers.

As a member of The J.A.S., Garcia would get his first taste of competition inside an ROH ring when he defeated Wheeler Yuta at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2022 and claimed the Ring of Honor Pure Championship once held by his hero Bryan Danielson. To add to that moment, Garcia even had the belt strapped around his waist by “The American Dragon” despite Daniel having bested one of Bryan's fellow BCC members to claim it.

Garcia would follow up his Pure Championship victory with one over Danielson just a few days later, albeit a bit tainted thanks to Jake Hager, and Garcia would find himself in an quandary over which side of the Sports Entertain/Pro Wrestler fence he would reside. Ultimately he chose the side of The J.A.S. and the men gave him his first opportunities in All Elite Wrestling, but regardless of the side he chose, it doesn't change the fact that “Red Death” Daniel Garcia is one of the best “technical sports entertainers” in the world today and his hold on the ROH Pure Championship is testament to that!