Opinion: The 'Higher Power' should have been Christopher Daniels
It was one of wrestling's most infamous storylines of all time in the WWE. Who was the 'Higher Power' that The Undertaker and his Ministry Of Darkness were taking orders from during their feud with Vince McMahon?
After months of a strong build up, it was revealed to be... Vince McMahon, swerving his rival Stone Cold Steve Austin. For years, fans have regularly cited the reveal as a missed opportunity and a bit of a let-down. In the build-up to the revelation, everybody from Jake "The Snake" Roberts to Shawn Michaels was rumored in 1999 to be the person pulling The Undertaker's strings but one intriguing and unusual name has emerged in recent times.
Former longtime WWE agent Bruce 'Brother Love' Prichard would reveal back in 2017 that that then future TNA and Ring Of Honor star 'The Fallen Angel' Christopher Daniels was pitched to McMahon as the 'Higher Power', by former WWE creative writer Ed Ferrera.
At the time Daniels had not been signed to a contract but was working a lot of big independent shows and was already portraying his evil priest gimmick, 'The Fallen Angel'. The character had caught Ferrera's attention and Prichard believed this new young talented performer with this great gimmick would be the perfect fit for the reveal. Prichard revealed Vince McMahon took one look at Daniels and said, “Nah.” and that he did not like his size.
I have always looked at this to be a huge shame, as much like many others, I do agree that it was a missed opportunity and a letdown. Pretty much any of the other rumored names would have been better than Vince, but I believe Daniels was the standout here. Daniels had proved to be an incredible talent in such a short time and his gimmick was turning a lot of heads at the Indie scene, so much that he was eventually snapped up by WCW, only without the gimmick. There is really no telling in how far Daniels could have gone in WWE had he signed and been chosen as 'The Higher Power'.