Daniel Garcia is quick to point out he’s not a fresh talent in AEW. He’s been in and out of prominent stories across his first three years in the company alongside some of the promotion’s biggest names, from Bryan Danielson to FTR and Chris Jericho. As new stars, like Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, and Jay White have rotated into the company, it’s only become more difficult to separate from the pack and take the next step in becoming a true main event talent. At this stage in his career, Garcia is determined on becoming so utterly undeniable that it won’t matter who else is on the roster — there simply won’t be a question of whether he belongs in the the main event scene.
“We have such a roster where it fosters wanting to get better,” Garcia tells Uproxx Sports. “We have so many talented people coming all the time and I think it’s really on the talent to separate yourself and to show ‘You can sign whoever you want to sign, but I’m somebody unique. I’m somebody special, and I’m somebody that should be invested in as well.’”
That last part isn’t in question. Garcia’s put in the work to become a highly-touted talent, recently renewing his contract with AEW after agonizing over his decision for “basically a year.” In recent months, right up until he put pen to paper, rumors swirled with varying degrees of confidence where Garcia would end up.
“A lot of that stuff just made me laugh because I feel like I’m a super private person,” Garcia continues. “Nobody really had any information regarding anything involving me over the past few months. Anything that came out was just completely fabricated and I feel like anything that came out about my status was just completely fake because nobody knew anything about me.”
Ultimately, Garcia knew AEW was home and where he wanted to plant his flag.
“I kinda knew in my head most of the time — I figured AEW was the right place for me. It’s a place that I slot in really well at, it’s a place I’m happy, a place that I get a lot of opportunity already,” Garcia says. “I think AEW right now is just a place that I really believe in. You look around the locker room, there are people that I want to go to war with. We have a roster that motivates me to get better, to be a better wrestler, and a better performer.”
Developing a strong reputation, Garcia says, has taken him a long way. At times, it doesn’t matter as much about your in-ring abilities, rather if you can be someone that people want to work with. For Garcia, it’s exponentially easier to continue climbing the ladder when the locker room is in a strong position — something he admits wasn’t necessarily the case a few years ago.
“AEW’s obviously been through ups and downs over the past couple years of. Like you hear the rumors about the locker room and a lot of them are true. Like a lot of the times the locker room is going through trouble and turmoil and people are mad at each other,” Garcia says. “But, for the past year or so, I would say that we’ve been going through a really good upswing of positivity and everyone’s helping each other and it’s just a really good environment to be a part of.”
Support from a locker room dynamic can trickle into onscreen partnerships, and Garcia has been blessed to be paired with some of AEW’s veterans throughout his career. He says Jericho taught him not to be afraid to fail and to be comfortable trying new things. FTR taught him about the inner workings of professional wrestling from a locker room standpoint. Those lessons, he says, will stay with him forever. But as grateful as he is, there comes a time when he has to chart his own path.
“You have to find what works for you and you have to take the training wheels off and just, ride the bike for yourself,” Garcia says. “I feel like that’s what I’m doing right now. I feel like I’m somebody who, the training wheels just came off, I’m not paired up with any veteran, I’m doing it on my own, I feel like I’m really excited to see if I’m gonna keep riding the bike or if I’m gonna fall off.”
The journey here has come with ups and downs. Garcia says it’s been a roller coaster, where one month he’s on top of the world and it’s always a fight for his spot. He’s constantly looking for ways to stand out, to be unique, and to do things that haven’t been done before.
The most challenging part, he says, has been maintaining confidence and keeping the belief in himself.
“You just have to realize that in the downs, you have to believe in yourself just as much as you can in the ups,” Garcia says.
It’s that mindset that makes it easy to block out the noise. We’re in a day where most former pro wrestlers have a platform — whether it’s a podcast, a media network, or simply using their social presence to cause a stir. Garcia says he doesn’t want to name names specifically, but hopes one day to be creatively fulfilled and successful enough to not feel the need to go on a podcast every weekend and bad talk people who are trying to take the business further.
“I do think that there is a lot of positive influences in the wrestling world when it comes to wrestling media. I think Busted Open is a net positive for wrestling,” Garcis says.
“But then there’s other podcasts with people who are clearly just looking for clicks. Hating on AEW is a very popular thing and it gets people a lot of attention. And I feel like a lot of these things come from people who retired their jerseys. We never hung it in the rafters and we don’t even remember what their number was on their jerseys. A lot of those people are trying to get a new career off hating on AEW and hating on people who are trying to be successful. And it’s just, it’s sad to see, I hope I never have to go through that when I’m older.”
Instead, Garcia is giving energy to the upward trajectory in his career alongside Private Party. The tag team has been in AEW since the beginning and Garcia is a three-year veteran of the promotion, yet the trio feel fresh in their elevated roles. Since breaking out on his own, Garcia has been in programs with guys like MJF, and most recently Jack Perry. Private Party were unsuccessful against the Young Bucks in their tag team championship match at WrestleDream, but all three have retained positive momentum as a group that Tony Khan can build around.
“I think that just goes to show how hard it can be to break out at AEW because of the talent that we have on the roster,” Garcia says.
For Garcia and Private Party, the next step in continuing to progress their careers comes in Wednesday night’s tilt with the Bucks and Perry, where the trio will yet again have an opportunity to add to their impressive catalog of matches.
“Having a very impressive catalog of matches is something that I really take pride in,” Garcia says. “And I feel like every time I’m going to these matches, I’m just excited to keep adding to that catalog, keep adding to that resume of hopefully great professional wrestling matches.”
That perspective has been one Garcia has carried throughout his career, pointing back to his admiration of Danielson’s laundry list of in-ring classics, which he hopes to accomplish the same.
Having great matches is one thing. Having classics in prominent spots is another, and that’s top of mind as Garcia approaches this next phase in his career.
“I think the biggest thing for me in this next year is that I really wanna main event pay-per-views,” Garcia says. “I wanna prove that I can be a top guy. I feel like that’s what I’m ready for. I feel like that’s what I’ve been ready for. And that was my reason for staying at AEW. I wanna prove that I can be somebody that the company can build around, and I can be a top guy in this promotion.”