Late in 2022, Frankie Kazarian – at the time contracted to AEW – showed up in IMPACT Wrestling and won the X Division Title from Mike Bailey at Bound for Glory.
Shortly after Bound for Glory, Frankie relinquished the X Division Title and cashed in “Option C”, which allowed him a shot at the IMPACT World Title. The match would take place against Josh Alexander at the company LIVE Overdrive event in November.
Speaking to Kurt Angle and Paul Bromwell on the latest episode of The Kurt Angle Show podcast, Kazarian says that he realized what he enjoys about professional wrestling and what AEW presented are two different things and that he feels he should have taken a chance on himself sooner.
“Pretty early on,” Kazarian said when asked when he knew his time with AEW was ending. “When I left last year, I still had two years left on my contract. I probably could have been there much longer. I re-signed at the end of 2021, and hindsight being what it is, I probably shouldn’t have, but again, AEW, I was there since before day one.
“I was there when this was a germ of an idea. I was there discussing this company when they didn’t even have initials attached to them. In these rooms with Cody, The Bucks, and [Hangman] Page, and [Scorpio Sky and Christopher Daniels],” Kazarian continued.
Continuing, Kazarian explained that over time, it became apparent that his philosophies regarding wrestling did not mesh with what AEW was presenting.
“So again, I was committed. I was like, ‘I want to try to ride this thing out.’ it just became apparent to me that what I like and what I appreciate about pro wrestling, and the way that I like it presented, was not happening at AEW. That’s not an indictment on them. It’s just, what they perceive as good television wrestling, are different things and just the business model, everything. Again, it was one of those things, and still, to this day, I feel that I have so much more to offer than what I was being utilized for at AEW,” Frankie said. “So, I bet on myself and made the decision to walk away, and I am very thankful that I did. It is, by far, the best decision I could have made [for] where I am at right now. So yeah, if I had to give a straight answer to [when he knew his time was coming to an end in AEW], it would probably be late 2021, when I re-signed, and I realized I probably should have just rolled the dice then.”
Frankie Kazarian continues to be a featured wrestler on IMPACT’s roster and says that part of his decision to stay with IMPACT for the foreseeable future has to do with his legacy within the promotion.
“I mean, you can’t tell the story of Frankie Kazarian without IMPACT Wrestling. It’s a large part of my history; my catalog, everything is there. That’s important to me,” he said. “I’m 25 years in. So, you know, you start thinking about legacy stuff, what I’m gonna leave behind, and what I want to do going forward, so it was really cool. Very happy, no ill-will [toward AEW]. I was glad I was able to walk away, and it’s the best thing best decision I could have made.”
H/T Robert Defelice from Fightful full article here
Full interview:
Frankie Kazarian showed up at IMPACT’s Hard to Kill Pay Per View in January and announced himself that he had officially signed a long-term contract with IMPACT Wrestling as was back with the company.
Frankie has been in a few #1 Contenders matches for the IMPACT World Title, but hasn’t been able to get back to that scene just yet. He’s entangled in a feud with fellow former Killer Kowalski trainee, Eddie Edwards.
Kazarian defeated Eddie Edwards at the LIVE Against All Odds this last Friday night, and then was set to team with Eddie the next night at the Fallout TV tapings.
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