new ROH World Champion, CM Punk, who had threatened to leave for World Wrestling Entertainment with the title. Punk refused the challenge and fled the arena. At the next show, Sign of Dishonor, Daniels defeated Punk's stablemate, Colt Cabana, when Punk attempted to hit Daniels with a steel chain, but instead hit Cabana. At Fate of an Angel, Daniels lost to the debuting Matt Hardy after Punk interfered. Later that night, after Punk's successful defense against James Gibson, Daniels stole the belt and was granted a title shot. On July 23, at The Homecoming, Daniels wrestled Punk to a one-hour time limit draw; the time expired just as Daniels hit his Angel's Wings finisher. At the next show on August 12, Redemption, Daniels, Gibson and Samoa Joe challenged CM Punk for the title in a Four-Way Elimination match. While Joe had Daniels in a submission move, Daniels put his foot on the rope to force a break. Punk knocked it off before the referee noticed, and Daniels submitted. Daniels tried to get revenge, but inadvertently helped Punk eliminate Joe. Daniels remained a regular member of the ROH roster, while also working other promotions. He made his U.S. debut as Curry Man on August 27, against Shingo Takagi at Dragon Gate Invasion After defeating Matt Sydal in two singles matches and losing to him in a third, they became tag team partners in the summer of 2006. On August 26, they failed in their first shot at the ROH World Tag Team Championship, against Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. On November 25, they defeated Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli for the title, making Daniels a two-time champion. After defending against CIMA and Shingo, Austin Aries and Roderick Strong and Jack Evans and Shingo, Daniels and Sydal lost the title to The Briscoe Brothers on February 24, 2007. At Good Times, Great Memories on April 28, Daniels wrestled a fifteen-minute time-limit draw with Erick Stevens. Following the match, Daniels turned heel and quit ROH. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002–2010) Triple X (2002–2004) Daniels joined the newly founded Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2002. He debuted for TNA at a weekly pay-per-view event on July 10, where he participated in a six-way elimination match to determine the #1 contender for the X Division Championship, where he was the runner-up, being eliminated by Low Ki. The following week, on July 17, Daniels teamed