Rafe Daniels (RLS CAS)

Rafe Daniels (born 20th November 1984 in Croydon, London) is an English professional wrestler currently signed to UNION Wrestling in his second spell.
Daniels is a three time BWF1 Champion and was the last World Champion in BoBWrestling1, and also held championships in PRIZE Wrestling League. He is the elder brother of UNION Wrestling superstar Harry Daniels.
== Career (2003-2020) ==
=== British Wrestling Federation (2003-2010) ===
Daniels debuted soon after training finishing in BWF during a failing run under their Managing Director Chris Lyons. Despite being only 19, Daniels became popular with jaded fans due to his energy and technical ability- something that was severely lacking in the promotion at the time- and held the Inter Championship six times in his first three years.
He was elevated to the BWF Championship picture in early 2007, following serious knee injuries ruling The Maverick out as we was due to win it. He bested Sehova at Knife Edge 2007, in an Ironman Match, 3-2, to win his first BWF Championship. He would hold it until Out Of The Gates 2008, where he lost the title to Andy Fortis, before winning it back in mid-2009 from Haybale. He was injured in this match, and had to relinquish the title a month later.
He took time off to recuperate and floated around the mid-card until 2010, when a drunken Harry Daniels2 would attack Lyons, leading to Rafe resigning out of loyalty to his troubled brother3.
=== Best of British Wrestling (2010-2013) ===
The Daniels brothers signed almost immediately with BoBWrestling in late 2010, competing mainly as a member of their tag team Double Ds until breaking off to pursue the World Championship in October 2011. 
Daniels defeated Jimmy King to win the title in November 2011, and held the title for nearly two years due to the shortage of viable replacements and Daniels' own affinity with the fanbase. It came to an end in July 2013 when, contrary to reports that the upcoming deactivation of the title forced Daniels' hand, Harry Daniels once again had to be removed for intoxication and Rafe walked with him. The deactivation of the title- along with all others in the promotion- came weeks later as financial ruin approached.
=== Return to BWF (2013-2014) ===
Daniels returned to the BWF, this time without his troubled, rehab-bound brother, and settled into a routine of being an outsider due to his loyalty to Harry. He speaks negatively on this time, where only close friends like Mikey Ace and The Maverick spoke to him. This didn't prevent him winning a third BWF Championship from Sehova at British Justice 2013. His resistance to the abuse he received, however, made him appear to management as a loose cannon, and The Maverick reluctantly took the belt from him at Full English 2013. 
Daniels allowed the remainder of his contract to run down while doing odd bits for the company. The fans, assuming he was merely sulking, began to boo his lack of energy. Of the promotion's eventual downfall, Daniels has said that; "I can't help but be satisfied after they nearly drove me out."
=== PWU/UNION Wrestling (2015-2018) ===
Daniels was one of the participants4 in the PWU World Championship (later the UNION Championship) Tournament for the new promotion, defeating shock entry The Maverick before losing to eventual winner Virgil Baker. He went on, instead, to form a successful partnership with Scot Davey Mac, winning the Tag Team Championships in a December 2015 tourney, last defeating Los Luchadores (Doscara and Almavacia).
The duo held the titles until April 2016, during an interim between two tours, where they lost them to Team Bring It! (Zodiak and The Rock). They then became a mid-card team, usually bigging up the challengers for the Tag Team Championships, before they challenged guests Christian and Chris Jericho at Heavy Metal 2017, defeating them in a Grudge Cell Match before the four showed mutual respect, turning The UK face.
They remained as faces for the remainder of their run, until splitting in early 2018 following Rafe Daniels' request for mutual termination. He cited "unfulfilled promises, unimaginative creative and a general lack of direction" on his request papers, according to the Squared Circle Insider5.
===PRIZE Wrestling League (2018-2020) ===
Daniels made a surprise return to wrestling at the first PRIZE Special in June 2018, unsuccessfully challenging for the PRIZE Elite Championship. He confirmed that the appearance was a one-off, and that he would not be following the promotion to Hamburg for their second special, however he also didn't rule out joining them at a later date.
Squared Circle Insider reported in late June that Daniels' had been offered a two year deal with the promotion by owner Mikey Ace, and broke the news of the 4th July that Daniels, along with female wrestler Lucy Fer, had signed a two-year deal with the promotion. He'd debut on PRIZE Fights in October 2018, losing to Chris Wayland, before suffering an ankle injury that would keep him out until after the WCE takeover in April 2019. 
His return came in May 2019, when we was entered into the tourney to crown the first WCE Heavyweight Champion. He'd defeat Devin Long in the 1st round, before getting an upset win over Loic Vincent in the semi-final. At PRIZE On The Line 2019, he'd defeat Brent Blake to score his first singles championship since 2013. Daniels would become exasperated at this point by WCE's insistence on keeping him from shows that didn't sell enough tickets.
He'd continue to feud with the often-cheating Blake across the next month, before Pete Hook would be inserted into the match at Up Front 2019, where he retained in an Anything Goes match by pinning Blake. He'd feud with Loic Vincent next, beginning a feud that would end with no clear resolution as WCE withdrew from running the promotion and it eventually closed entirely in 2020.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and his own frustrations with the business, he'd consider himself largely retired by late 2020. He was slated to appear at one of the "Indy Wrestling Lives" shows in late 2021, however they fell through due to funding and roster issues.
=== UNION Wrestling return (2022-present) ===
Daniels would return to UNION Wrestling, first on an appearance-by-appearance basis in late 2021, before confirming he'd signed a long-term deal to help spearhead a reboot of the promotion in early 2022. He would injure his shoulder in the run-up to their launch of new shows, and subsequently missed Bring Down the House '23, but was able to return shortly after and enter a feud for the UNION World Championship with holder Virgil Baker. After a month of trading brawls and attacks on each other, Daniels would come close to winning but ultimately fell short as both men were given a round of applause at UNION Uneasy Alliance 2023.
== In-Wrestling ==
=== Signatures ===
Dan-DT (DDT)
German Suplex
=== Finishers ===
StingRafe (Cross Legged Michinoku Driver)
== Accomplishments ==
BWF Championship (x3)
BWF Inter Championship (x6)
BoB World Championship 
BoB Tag Championships (with Harry Daniels as Double Ds)
UNION Tag Team Championships (with Davey Mac as The United Kingdom)
== Trivia ==
* BWF originally wanted Daniels to wrestle under a gimmick name similar to British Bulldog, but Daniels refused, stating that he felt it disrespected one of his idols. He has subsequently never wrestled under any other name than his own.
* Despite his gimmick possibly hinting otherwise, at times, Daniels has been vocally pro-Europe for the entire of his career, much the same as almost all of his roster mates, as most of them had strong touring links in mainland Europe. 
== Behind-the-Scenes/Notes ==
# British Wrestling Foundation and Best of British Wrestling were both promotions outside of WWE 2K.
# Those games featured things several scenarios where personal issues would come into play for wrestlers. So, I worked it into my narrative's history, entirely for flavour.
# In truth, I just shifted him, along with Harry, over to BOBWrestling because they had less talent with a high Popularity stat.
# I actually created The United Kingdom gimmick-before-name... so them ending up being my previously used MDickie CAWs, Daniels and Mac, was a complete coincidence when I noticed how similar they both happened to look to the duo they eventually fully became.
# In truth, the decision for him to leave UNION Wrestling was because I wanted him to return to his glory days, and saw my own fresh start and new promotion as the perfect way to soft reset the character. It'll be interesting to see if Harry (who in the narrative is now clean and doing well) eventually joins him.
Category:CAWs
Category:ReVerse 2.0