Frankie Kazarian has revealed the reason behind his departure from All Elite Wrestling.
Former AEW World Tag Team Champion Frankie Kazarian was one of All Elite Wrestling’s very first signings back in Januray 2019, however in late 2022, Kazarian announced that his time with AEW had come to an end before officially returning to IMPACT Wrestling.
Kazarian recently sat down with WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle on The Kurt Angle Show, where the former multiple time X Division Champion revealed that he regretted re-signing with AEW in late 2021, noting that his commitment to the promotion from the start influenced his decision more than what he actually wanted from wrestling.
“When I left last year, I still had two years left on my contract when I left. I made the decision to leave. I still had two years left. 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 and The Bucks and Page and Sky and C.D. So again, I was committed. I was like I want to try to, you know, ride this thing out.”
-Frankie Kazarian
Continuing, Kazarian elaborated further on the reasoning behind his AEW departure, stating that the things he likes about pro wrestling and its presentation weren’t happening in the promotion.
“It just became apparent to me that what I like and what I appreciate about pro wrestling and the way I like it presented was not happening at AEW, and that’s not an indictment of them. It’s just what they perceive as good television wrestling and what I do are different things, and just the business model, everything. Again, it was one of those things I feel, and still do to this day, that I feel that I have so much more to offer than what I was being utilized for in AEW. So I bet on myself and I made the decision to walk away and I am very thankful I did. It’s by far the best decision I could have made where I am right now.”
-Frankie Kazarian
Kazarian re-signed with IMPACT Wrestling in January earlier this year. This past Friday saw him defeat Eddie Edwards at IMPACT’S Against All Odds PPV.
The show also saw two major title changes involving the Motor City Machine Guns, as Chris Sabin captured the X Division Championship from Trey Miguel, whilst Alex Shelley became IMPACT World Champion for the first time by defeating Steve Maclin.
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
