Add as a preferred source on Google Frankie Kazarian believes that asking for his release from AEW and returning to TNA full time was the decision that brought back his passion for pro wrestling.
During a recent appearance on 1 Of A Kind With RVD, Kazarian said he still saw himself as someone capable of holding a top spot, but that he spent much of his final months in AEW without meaningful opportunities.
“I’m certainly having fun again. I kind of fell back in love with pro wrestling, and yeah, I bet on myself.
I was sitting on the bench, and I still should have been in the starting lineup. If I wasn’t going to get that opportunity, cool, that’s completely fine—but I’m going to go take that opportunity somewhere else. And I did.
Dare I say, it’s been the funnest, most rewarding almost four years of my career being back here and showing that I could be a top guy in the company, being able to go out there, cut 10-minute promos and have great matches with anybody on the roster. It’s been super rewarding.”
Kazarian had been with AEW since the promotion’s founding and, alongside Scorpio Sky, became the inaugural AEW World Tag Team Champions. Once SCU came to an end, though, he was used mainly as an experienced hand to face newcomers and other rising talent.
He had signed a new three-year contract in 2021. Even so, in December 2022, he asked for his release before talking to either WWE or TNA. Tony Khan granted the request, and Kazarian announced his full-time return to TNA at Hard to Kill in January 2023.
That move finally delivered the championship that had eluded Kazarian throughout his career. On November 13, 2025, he defeated Mike Santana to win the TNA World Championship for the first time, though his reign came to an end on the January 15, 2026 episode of iMPACT!.
Kazarian also competed in an Ultimate X match at Slammiversary on June 28, 23 years after taking part in the first-ever match under that stipulation. That track record underscores that leaving AEW wasn’t just a change of company for Kazarian — it was a reclaiming of TV time, spotlight, and prominence in the final stretch of his career.