| Daniel Garcia | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Garcia in December 2019 | |
| Born | September 17, 1998 Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Buffalo State College |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Daniel Garcia Danny Garcia[1] Dante Rios[2] |
| Billed from | Buffalo, New York[3] |
| Trained by | Brandon Thurston The Blade |
Daniel Garcia (born September 17, 1998) is an American professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He also appears for AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is a one-time ROH Pure Champion. As part of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), he is the current PWG World Champion in his first reign.
Garcia began competing for Limitless Wrestling in 2018.[4] He appeared for WWE on an episode of 205 Live in July 2018, during which he lost against Drew Gulak.[1] In January 2021, he competed against Tyler Rust in WWE on NXT, where he lost.[2] Garcia won the Limitless World Championship in March.[4] He lost the title to Anthony Greene in September.[5]
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See also: Jericho Appreciation Society |
Garcia made his debut in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in September 2020 during an episode of Dark.[6] He was announced as having signed with AEW in October 2021.[6]
In a March 2022 episode of Dynamite, Garcia, alongside Angelo Parker and Matt Menard, formed a stable with Chris Jericho and Jake Hager, called the Jericho Appreciation Society (JAS).[7] In August 2022, Bryan Danielson attempted to recruit Garcia away from the JAS and into the Blackpool Combat Club (BCC), citing that Garcia was more suited to the competitive wrestling philosophy of the BCC than Jericho's sports entertainment-focused group.[8][9] Garcia ultimately chose to remain loyal to Jericho.[10] In September 2022 on Dynamite, Garcia defeated the BCC's Wheeler Yuta to win the ROH Pure Championship.[11] Garcia lost the title back to Yuta at Final Battle in December 2022, ending his reign at 94 days.[12]
In 2023, Garcia unsuccessfully challenged Orange Cassidy for the AEW International Championship on two occasions, including in a four-way match at Forbidden Door.[13] In July, he partnered Sammy Guevara in an blind eliminator tag team tournament,[14] but they were defeated by Better Than You Bay Bay in the final.[15] Around the same time, Don Callis began tempting Jericho to join his stable,[16] which saw Garcia and Guevara team up again to face Jericho and Konosuke Takeshita in a losing effort.[17] The JAS split soon afterwards,[18] and Garcia, Parker and Menard branched off as their own group once again. The trio challenged Billy Gunn and the Acclaimed for the AEW World Trios Championship on two occasions, but were defeated both times.[19] In November, Garcia called out MJF for the AEW World Championship,[20] but was defeated within ten minutes on an episode of Dynamite.[21]
On November 22, Garcia was announced as one of 12 competitors in the AEW Continental Classic tournament, where he would compete in the Blue League.[22] Garcia began a losing streak in the tournament, failing to secure any points, causing him to be eliminated from h tournament before he had competed in all of his matches. The streak ended during his final league match, where Garcia defeated Brody King, to eliminate King from the tournament and finish his tournament campaign with 3 points.[23]
Garcia debuted for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) at It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll) on November 21, 2021, by losing to Jonathan Gresham via referee's decision.[24] The following month, Garcia participated in the Battle of Los Angeles tournament at the namesake event.[25] He defeated Kevin Blackwood in the first round, Alex Shelley in the quarterfinals, Black Taurus in the semifinals, and Mike Bailey in the final round to win the tournament.[26] It earned him a title shot for the PWG World Championship against Bandido at Delivering The Goods.[27] Garcia defeated Bandido to win the title.[28] Garcia successfully defended the title against Konosuke Takeshita at Nineteen and Jonathan Gresham at DINK.[29][30] Garcia then participated in the 2023 Battle of Los Angeles, where he lost to Titus Alexander by disqualification in the opening round.[31] On the second night of the event, Garcia brought his Jericho Appreciation Society teammates Chris Jericho, Angelo Parker, Matt Menard, and Sammy Guevara for a ten-man tag team match, which JAS won.[32] Garcia then retained the World Championship against Battle of Los Angeles winner Mike Bailey in sudden death overtime in an Iron Man match at Twenty: Mystery Vortex by using underhanded tactics.[33]
Garcia has been described as a technical wrestler.[34][35] He uses a bridging Sharpshooter hold, which since 2022 he calls the Dragon Tamer, 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.[36][37]
Following his entry into the JAS, Garcia rejected the label "professional wrestler" and embraced calling himself a sports entertainer,[38][39] a pejorative term used in AEW to denote a wrestling storytelling style that prioritizes showmanship.[40] 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.[41]
Garcia was trained in professional wrestling by Brandon Thurston and The Blade.[42][43]
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.[44][45] Garcia returned to wrestling six months later. The following year, he graduated from Buffalo State College with a communications degree.[3]
