Frankie Kazarian fell in love with wrestling by accident.
Speaking with the Wrestling Perspective Podcast, the AEW Superstar shared that the reason he became a pro wrestler is because of Rocky III. Specifically, it was a mishap at the video store that sent him down this path in life. Here is the full story:
“The reason I became a professional wrestler is because of the movie Rocky III," Kazarian said. "Here’s why; I was such a huge fan of Sly and of Arnold and of 80s action movies, but especially the Rocky franchise. Me and my cousin would watch Rocky III ad nauseam. It was my favorite movie. One day my mom took me to the video store, me and my cousin, and we went in and we saw what we thought was Thunderlips and Clubber Lang on the cover of this… thing. It ended up being WrestleMania I. Mr. T and Hulk Hogan, obviously. But I didn’t know what it was. I’m thinking, ‘Is this like a backstory on Thunderlips and Clubber Lang?’ I asked my mom to rent it for me and she’s like, ‘Okay.’ Me and my cousin, we rent it, we bring it home and put it in and the first thing I see is Tito Santana versus The Executioner and [I’m thinking] ‘What is pro wrestling?’ I was hooked. My dad came in, my dad watched wrestling when he was a kid so he started watching with me and I was glued, instantly, like, ‘Well, I guess I’m a professional wrestling fan now,’ because I could not get enough of it. But the reason I got into it is because of the movie Rocky III. So I’ll always credit Sylvester Stallone for my career because who knows -- I’m sure I would have discovered it because wrestling became so big at that time, but yeah that was the gateway drug for me.”
Now 43 years old, Kazarian has been a mainstay on the national stage for nearly twenty years, primarily with IMPACT! Wrestling and Ring of Honor. Now in AEW, Kazarian remains teamed with his longtime partner, Christopher Daniels. As SCU, they were the first-ever AEW Tag Team Champions. On March 31, 2021, Kazarian faced off against Christian Cage. He recently spoke about how the former WWE star has mastered the craft of pro wrestling. Those comments can be seen here.
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