Daniel Garcia | |
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![]() Garcia in May 2024 | |
Born | Buffalo, New York, U.S. | September 17, 1998
Alma mater | Buffalo State College |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Daniel Garcia Danny Garcia [1] Dante Rios [2] |
Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) [3] |
Billed weight | 187 lb (85 kg) [3] |
Billed from | Buffalo, New York [4] |
Trained by | Brandon Thurston The Blade |
Debut | 2017 [3] |
Daniel Garcia (born September 17, 1998) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a former AEW TNT Champion. He is also known for his tenure for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), where he is the PWG World Champion.
Garcia began training under Brandon Thurston and Pepper Parks before debuting on the independent circuit in 2017. [5] [6] He competed regularly for Limitless Wrestling, where he won the Limitless World Championship in 2021. [7] [8] He also made appearances for WWE, facing Drew Gulak on 205 Live in 2018 and Tyler Rust on NXT in 2021. [1] [2]
Garcia made his AEW debut on Dark in September 2020 and was officially signed in October 2021. Early in his run, he aligned with 2point0 (Matt Menard and Angelo Parker), forming a trio that regularly appeared on AEW programming. [9] In March 2022, the group joined Chris Jericho and Jake Hager to form the Jericho Appreciation Society (JAS), a faction promoting a "sports entertainment" philosophy. [10]
Later that year, Garcia was featured in a storyline involving the Blackpool Combat Club (BCC), with Bryan Danielson encouraging him to embrace his technical wrestling background. Although teased to leave the JAS, Garcia ultimately remained loyal to Jericho. [11] [12] [13] On the September 7, 2022, episode of Dynamite , he defeated Wheeler Yuta to win the ROH Pure Championship, which he held for 94 days before losing it back to Yuta at Final Battle. [14] [15]
In 2023, Garcia unsuccessfully challenged for the AEW International Championship on multiple occasions, including a four-way match at Forbidden Door. [16] He also reached the finals of the "Blind Eliminator" tag team tournament with Sammy Guevara, losing to MJF and Adam Cole. [17] The JAS disbanded later that year, and Garcia resumed teaming with Menard and Parker. [18]
Following the breakup of the Jericho Appreciation Society, Garcia continued teaming with Matt Menard and Angelo Parker, with the trio unsuccessfully challenging for the AEW World Trios Championship on two occasions. [19] Garcia later entered a brief program with MJF, culminating in an AEW World Championship match on the November 29, 2023, episode of Dynamite, which Garcia lost. [20] [21] Garcia was announced as a participant in the inaugural Continental Classic tournament. [22] After a four-match losing streak, he earned a victory in his final bout against Brody King, finishing the tournament with three points. [23]
In early 2024, Garcia aligned with FTR in a feud against the House of Black, earning a singles win over Buddy Matthews [24] and later teaming with FTR in a victory over the group in an Escape The Cage Elimination match. [25] He then entered a storyline pursuit of the TNT Championship, which led to a match against Christian Cage at Revolution, where he was unsuccessful. [26] On July 3 at Beach Break, Garcia faced Will Ospreay for the International Championship but lost after interference from MJF. A post-match attack by MJF wrote Garcia off television. [27] He returned at All In in August, interfering in Ospreay’s match against MJF and costing MJF the title. The feud concluded at All Out, where Garcia was defeated but attacked MJF after the match. [28]
Garcia returned on Dynamite in October and announced he had re-signed with AEW. [29] The following month, he defeated Jack Perry at Full Gear to win the TNT Championship, his first title in AEW. [30] He was later confirmed for the 2024 Continental Classic, finishing with seven points but failing to advance to the semifinals. [31] [32] During his 134-day reign as TNT Champion, Garcia made successful defenses against several opponents such as Mark Briscoe and Katsuyori Shibata, [33] [34] before losing the title to Adam Cole at Dynasty on April 6, 2025. [35] After losing to Cole, Garcia entered a feud with FTR, who were now heels. [36] [37] On May 25 at Double or Nothing, Garcia teamed with Nigel McGuinness in a losing effort against FTR. [38] On July 12 at All In, Garcia competed in a four-way match for the vacant TNT Championship, but failed to win. [39]
In 2021, Garcia debuted for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), where he won the Battle of Los Angeles tournament in January 2022. [40] He defeated Bandido in May to win the PWG World Championship, [41] successfully defending the title against several challengers. As of August 2023, PWG has since gone on hiatus, leaving Garcia's status as PWG World Champion unknown. [42] [43]
Garcia has been described as a technical wrestler. [44] [45] He uses a bridging Sharpshooter hold as a finishing move, which since 2022 he calls the Dragon Tamer. [46] [47] This is a reference to his upset victory over "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson by using the move at the Dynamite special Fight for the Fallen on July 27, 2022.
Following his entry into the JAS, Garcia rejected the label "professional wrestler" and embraced calling himself a sports entertainer, [48] [49] a pejorative term used in AEW to denote a wrestling storytelling style that prioritizes showmanship. [50] On a Dynamite show held in El Paso, Texas, Garcia began to dance in a Latin-esque way to elicit reactions from the crowd; he has since incorporated this into his character, where he uses the dance as a taunt. [51]
In January 2019, Garcia broke both of his legs in a car crash involving three other wrestlers. The vehicle he was riding in crashed after hitting black ice. [52] [53] Garcia returned to wrestling six months later. The following year, he graduated from Buffalo State College with a communications degree. [4]
Garcia has been involved in a weeks-long storyline involving himself, Chris Jericho and Bryan Danielson, torn over whether he wants to be a sports entertainer in the Jericho Appreciation Society or a wrestler.
After the match, Garcia said that was his first singles match in six months in AEW, then called out MJF and demanded a title shot. Why not? There's only a dozen guys challenging MJF. Garcia still fancies himself a sports entertainer.
...everyone just thinks I'm just like this technical guy
Daniel Garcia (w/ 2point0) defeated Josh Woods. Two technical wrestlers going at it.
Garcia locked on a Sharpshooter, the one he's calling the Dragon Tamer, but Danielson turned it into the LeBell Lock.
Garcia worked a Dragon-Tamer (sharpshooter).
He said he'd never be a pro wrestler and while he still says Danielson is his hero, he said Jericho taught him how to win. He said he realized Sports Entertainers beat Pro Wrestlers every single time. Garcia said his name is Daniel Garcia, and he is a Sports Entertainer.
Daniel Garcia said that he was a sports entertainer and would never be a pro wrestler.
For clarification in this context "Sports Entertainer" is considered a pejorative describing the style of wrestling storytelling the WWE has employed in the past where the emphasis is on more storylines and pageantry and pretty much what AEW was created to counter.