Frankie Kazarian On His Departure From AEW & Why He Shouldn't Have Re-Signed

Frankie Kazarian was one of All Elite Wrestling's earliest signings, becoming one of the company's first champions when he won the AEW World Tag Team Championship with Scorpio Sky. While it seems Sky may be returning soon with the debut of "AEW Collision," Kazarian made the decision not to re-sign with the company. During a recent appearance on "The Kurt Angle Show," Kazarian explained the thought process behind his decision.

"When I left [AEW] last year, I still [had] two years left on my contract," Kazarian said. "I made the decision to leave. ... I probably could have been there much longer. I resigned 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 have any initials attached to them."

The Impact star detailed being a part of conversations about AEW with Cody Rhodes, Matt and Nick Jackson, "Hangman" Adam Page, and his partners in SCU before the company came to fruition, and said that he wanted to stay with the organization. However, it wasn't meant to be.

Despite being one of the earliest members of the roster, Kazarian was one AEW star that seemed to get less emphasis as newer stars entered the picture. It didn't take long after signing a new contract with AEW in 2021 that Kazarian began to realize he differed with the company on a number of key points.

"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," Kazarian continued. "And that's not an indictment [of] them. What they perceive as good television wrestling and what I do are different things, and the business model, everything. ... I still to this day feel that I have so much more to offer than what I was being utilized for at AEW. So I bet on myself, I made the decision to walk away, and I am very thankful I did. It's by far the best decision I could've made, where I am right now."

Kazarian announced his AEW departure earlier this year, but had been making appearances with Impact Wrestling for some months already. As someone with quite a long history in Impact and TNA, Kazarian has regained a prominent position there. Kazarian most recently competed at Impact's Against All Odds pay-per-view on June 9, where he defeated Eddie Edwards.