Frankie Kazarian Says He Didn't Feel Valued In AEW, Bet On Himself In Impact
Frankie Kazarian is ready for a new beginning. The IMPACT star joined Eric Bischoff on a special live interview on AdFreeShows.com and was very reflective on the time he has left in the ring.
"That's the one thing that all of us are running out of," Kazarian said to AdFreeShows. "My time in professional wrestling, in my eyes, is long from being done."
While Kazarian was a strong presence in the beginning stages of AEW, his TV presence waned as he became less of the product's focus.
"I wanted to give that time to somebody that would value it," he said. "I felt at the time in AEW, my time, my contributions, and my talent was not being valued and that's okay because I had the opportunity to take my time and give it to somebody else and that's exactly what I did."
Kazarian said that he had two years left on his contract with AEW and also had the opportunity to roll that contract over, but he told them "thank you, but no thank you." "I'm not a guy that's wired to sit on the bench, you know? I'm a guy that should be in the starting lineup. It's not being egotistical to say that because it's true and I proved that."
The five-time X Division Champion said he's in a much better place because he made the decision to jump to IMPACT which only happened over a couple of days and felt confident enough to bet on himself.
"I was proud to be a part of it, but now things have changed. The landscape is different and it's time for me to be a little bit selfish. If I have one regret it's that I wasn't selfish enough. It's time that Frankie Kazarian looks after Frankie Kazarian."