Current TNA Wrestling World Champion Frankie Kazarian has recalled AEW’s reaction to him requesting his release from the company in 2022.
Part of AEW’s original roster back in 2019 for the company’s inception, Frankie Kazarian, along with fellow SCU members Scorpio Sky and Christopher Daniels were featured members of the roster in the early years of Tony Khan’s promotion.
During a new interview with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Kazarian recalled signing with AEW and becoming one half of the inaugural AEW World Tag Team Champions with Sky in 2019:
“First ever there. Yep, me and Scorpio Sky. They switch it up and put us as the team, we had teamed in Ring of Honor as well. So another one of my best, dear friends and guy have amazing chemistry with best, one of my best buds still to this day.
“Had that first initial tag run, then that stopped, and then kind of just bounced around, did a pretty cool storyline with myself and CD [Christopher Daniels], where he had a match against The Young Bucks, where I put the stipulation out where if we don’t win this match, if we can’t win these titles, we’re done as a tag team and lost that and that story. If anyone hasn’t seen that story, I recommend go back and looking, because it’s really good, some of our best work, and The Young Bucks as well.”
Kazarian then discussed his dissatisfaction with his role as a utility player in AEW prior to requesting his release in late 2022:
“Then kind of was starting to do my own singles thing, and then just kind of being used as a utility player. For example, when Christian came into the company, who’s another friend and wonderful wrestler, one of the most underrated dudes on Earth, I had his first match because he trusted me and he hadn’t wrestled in seven years. So they put me in there with him, and we had a great match.
“When Adam Cole comes, [I’m] his first match. So I was kind of the guy, I could have great matches with anybody, but that was it. That was kind of my role. A lot of times I was kind of relegated to sitting on the bench, and I don’t do well like that. I’m not wired like that. I cannot stand complacency.
“There came a point where I was thinking to myself, in my opinion, the most valuable thing you can give me, or that I can give you, is time, because that’s the one thing we’re all running out of. Money, possessions, all this stuff, fine, whatever. But for you to give me some of your time, I appreciate that. And so I just thought to myself, with the time I have left in pro wrestling, and this was the end of 2022, I needed to give that time to somebody that valued it and appreciated it.
“I don’t know if I have five years, ten years left, but I know there’s more years behind me than they’re in front of me. But with the time I have left, I want to give that time to somebody that is going to value and appreciate it more so than I felt it was being valued and appreciated at the end of AEW.”
Discussing the decision to “bet on himself” and request his release, Kazarian said AEW were “taken aback” by his decision
“I just re-signed for another three years. And then December of 2022, I get a call from a representative in the office, and they’re like, ‘Hey, just wanna let you know we’re gonna roll you over and we’ll just see.’ I go, ‘Whoa, wait about that. I don’t want that to happen.’ They’re kind of taken aback, and had a long conversation. I said, ‘Look, honestly, I would like you if I could just get my release.’
“Everything I just explained to you, I explained to the people at AEW. They were, I don’t want to say shocked, because it’s not like I’m such a giant star, but they were like, just taken aback, because nobody had left AEW this point, Cody did. Cody had left a few months before. So it was like, wow.
“‘Well, what if we do like a per-show? What if we do this?’ I go, thank you, but I need to bet on myself. I need to just sever ties and go. A little bit of back and forth, and eventually the message came down to go, Okay, well TK respects you as a man and as a wrestler, and if this is what you want, we can do your release.
“Can you please have it to me in writing by today? Because I hadn’t talked to anybody, WWE, TNA, I just needed out. I needed that safety net pulled away.”
When asked why he thinks AEW decided to let him go, the veteran star stated is belief that the company didn’t see anything long-term in him:
“Obviously, they probably didn’t see anything long-term in me, you know, which was astonishing, because I was like, why would you re-sign me for very good money, for another three years, if they didn’t see anything? I get it, of course, that’s how it is.
“I could probably still be there today doing what I was doing, but I’m much, much, much happier where I am now.”
Kazarian rejoined TNA Wrestling in early 2023, and three years later, the 48-year-old recently captured his first TNA World Championship by cashing-in his Call Your Shot Gauntlet trophy on Mike Santana in November.
Transcript via chrisvanvliet.com
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