For over two decades, a persistent rumor in the wrestling community has suggested that indie legend Christopher Daniels was the original choice to be revealed as The Undertaker’s “Higher Power” during WWE’s Attitude Era. Daniels recently addressed the long-standing rumor, dismissing it as likely untrue and a bad idea to begin with.
The “Higher Power” was a major storyline in 1999, where The Undertaker and his Ministry of Darkness were taking orders from a mysterious, hooded figure. The angle culminated in the figure being revealed as Vince McMahon. During his appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Daniels was asked if there was any truth to him being considered for the role.
“I didn’t hear this until years later,” Daniels said. “Maybe, but it was never anything that they told me, and honestly, it was a terrible idea anyway. Because the idea would have been Undertaker is answering to this higher power, and then I unmask, and it’s me, and it’s like, Who the f— is this guy?” At the time, Daniels was an accomplished independent wrestler but was a complete unknown to the mainstream WWE audience.
Daniels shared a similar, real-life story from his time in WCW that demonstrated why such a reveal would have failed. He was pitched an idea where he was the mysterious emperor to Vampiro’s Darth Vader. “I remember going to WCW one day, cutting this promo backstage with Vampiro, I’ve got this hood… and then it comes on live Nitro, and we watch it. And as soon as it’s done, Jeff Jarrett… goes, ‘Who the f— was that?!’ And I was like, ‘That’s me sir.’ Then that flopped so quickly that they didn’t go forward with that idea.”
Daniels believes the WWE rumor may have originated because he was doing dark matches at the time and was known for his “Fallen Angel” character. “I think they thought, Oh, well, maybe this is something that we could use him as. But honestly, I think once Vince saw me, and, you know, I’m 5 10 and this is the time when everybody is six feet something, it’s like, we can do better. And I was like, that makes sense.”
Christopher Daniels would go on to have a legendary career across TNA, ROH, and AEW, where he now works backstage as the Head of Talent Relations following his in-ring retirement.”
