Frankie Kazarian says he reached a point where he didn't want to be in the AEW locker room.
Kazarian was with AEW in its early years, and he is one-half of the inaugural AEW World Tag Team Champions with Scorpio Sky. Kazarian left AEW in January 2023, as he requested that AEW not roll over his contract so he could join TNA full-time.
During a virtual signing with K & S WrestleFest, Frankie Kazarian reflected on leaving AEW. He recalled how, over a year before he left the company, his wife Traci Brooks told him that he had to go when she went to a show with him,
"Funny thing about my wife, she obviously knows the business very well. She went to one [AEW] show, physically went there with me. She was in there for maybe a half hour and she pulled me aside and she said, ‘You have got to get out of here.’ This was a year and a half before I left. She saw, half an hour, and she said, you have to get out of here. She knew my frustrations at the time, and she just got that vibe too. I’m not burying the company, to all the AEW fans. It’s a fine place if that’s what you enjoy, but it just wasn’t for me," Kazarian said.
Kazarian then discussed some of his frustrations with the company and noted that it all came down to management. He stated that he felt like there wasn't any management or leadership, especially if you weren't a featured act.
“It all comes down to management, leadership. I felt that there really wasn’t any, especially if you were not one of the featured acts. I get [it]. TK is a very, very nice guy, and I do like Tony, but his attention is on those that are on the program, and towards the end, I wasn’t one of them, and that was fine," Kazarian said.
The AEW locker room also came up in the conversation, and Kazarian said that for his last two years with the company, he got changed in the coaches' room. He stated that he didn't want to be in the AEW locker room anymore.
“The AEW locker room when I was in there, for the last two years I was there, I changed with the coaches because I didn’t want to be in the locker room for a variety of reasons and I had friends, arm Anderson and Jerry Lynn and Billy Gunn, those are my buddies, I kind of had more in common [with them]. So TNA, I actually enjoy being in the locker room because my friends are there and everyone is focused on the same goal. It’s legit the funnest locker room I’ve ever been in," Kazarian said.
Kazarian previously discussed leaving AEW. Check out his comments here.
Click here to see what Kazarian had to say about his departure from AEW.
Kazarian has reportedly re-signed with TNA Wrestling. More information is available here.
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