By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

TNA wrestler Christopher Daniels was recently interviewed by Brian Fritz for Fanhouse.com to promote the Destination X PPV on Sunday and he talked a number of TNA and WWE subjects, including the X Division, feeling like he wouldn't be spotlighted in WWE, the new Monday night battles, and other subjects. I'll also break down most of what Daniels said in the interview.

-- Daniels said he's glad he's stuck with TNA throughout company history and not tried to seek work with WWE because he feels TNA has regularly spotlighted wrestlers of his size when WWE has not.

"I've been lucky to wrestle the guys like A.J. (Styles) and (Samoa) Joe at the times in my career when I did, you know, the fact that TNA has spotlighted the X Division for such a long time, like WWE hasn't really featured guys with my strengths and my size, that type of thing," Daniels said. "I've been lucky in the sense that TNA has given us that platform to perform on and the spotlight's been on us in the X Division. So I've been in a better spot here than I might have been if I were with WWE."

Caldwell's Analysis: I disagree and cite two main examples: Chris Jericho and C.M. Punk. Both are almost exactly the same size as Daniels in height and weight. Jericho is the World Hvt. champion, Punk rose to World Title status in 2009 and is one of the top heels in the wrestling business right now. Also, a wrestler like Evan Bourne is a future star, has a great connection with the audience, and is over despite being much smaller than Daniels.

-- Daniels said he believes the X Division will get more attention going forward based on conversations with Eric Bischoff about wanting to build up the division, as exemplified by Bischoff's promo on the March 8 Impact.

"Having had discussions with Eric Bischoff behind the scenes, I think he realizes that the X Division has been an important part of TNA and can be again an important part of TNA, and I think he realizes that instead of focusing on one division or the other, we're gonna put the spotlight on every division we have -- the tag division, the X Division, and the heavyweights," Daniels said. "I feel like we're going to become more spotlighted, maybe more than we have in the last year or so, and that's to our benefit and benefit to guys like Kazarian and Brian Kendrick, the Guns, and Generation Me. I feel like we're gonna get more of a chance than we have in the last month or two."

Caldwell's Analysis: It has to be more than just "let's build up the X Division." That's a failed marketing approach. The promo exchange on March 8 was an okay start to revitalize a watered-down brand, but it's not going anywhere unless the wrestlers and feuds within the division are spotlighted, not just the division itself. TNA has never really understood that outside of the Golden Age of Joe, Styles, and Daniels, but let's hope TNA adjusts to market the wrestlers seeking championship gold and prestige, not the division.

-- Daniels also talked about the quality of TNA's show on March 8 compared to WWE Raw to begin the Monday night battles. Daniels defended the March 8 ratings as a starting point for growth, but not a sign they made a mistake moving to Monday nights.

"Despite the fact that they've (WWE) got so many great programs and great matches on the pay-per-view this month, 95 percent of the people that I've talked to have said that the better product in-ring was on our show Monday night (March 8). And I think the more that we put out that product, the more we put an effort out and get the people involved, the more they say the better in-ring product is TNA, slowly but surely you're going to see those ratings turn around, you're going to see more people watching us," Daniels said.

"The goal wasn't just to get the good rating on the first show, the goal is to build the rating up and you have to start somewhere. So this isn't the end of us being on Monday nights, it wasn't like when we got these ratings they decided 'Oh you know what, well that's a failure.' It's not a failure. It's a place to begin from. It's a starting point."

Caldwell's Analysis: TNA had a good show at times on March 8, but WWE stuck to its guns and continued the build-up to WrestleMania. So, sure a lot of wrestling fans liked Impact on March 8 for the live action and big surprises, but WWE had an eye on making $5 million March 28. TNA then followed up with an awful show on March 15 and the ratings sunk to a three-year low. Brian Hoops and I talked about this on the PWTorch Livecast on Thursday about TNA booking backwards by giving away everything on March 8 rather than slowly building toward the big moments and big surprises as they built an audience.

-- Daniels also talked about Destination X, the NXT program, Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan), his dangerous spots in past Ultimate X matches, and other subjects in the interview linked at the top of the page.

We suggest these recent related articles...

TV RATINGS: TNA Impact & ROH TV viewership - Week 19 on Dest. America - Impact surges post-BFG, ROH draws big audience

TV WRESTLING VIEWERSHIP - Week of Sept. 28: Full Break Down of last week's Pro Wrestling TV with DVR viewing

TNA NEWS: TNA announces TV tapings on January U.K. Tour