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Frankie_Kazarian
Frankie_Kazarian

Frankie Kazarian

Frank B. Gerdelman (born August 4 1977), better known as Kaz and Frankie Kazarian, is an American professional wrestler who is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He has also worked for numerous promotions, including World Wrestling Entertainment in its cruiserweight division.

Career

Kazarian began training with Killer Kowalski in Malden, Massachusetts in 1998, and wrestled his debut match after one month's training, facing Freight Train Dan. After remaining at Kowalski's school for eight months, Kazarian returned to Southern California and began wrestling on the independent circuit, primarily in the Empire Wrestling Federation, where he continued his training and teamed with Josh Galaxy as Bad Influence.

TNA commentator Mike Tenay revealed in a late 2007 shoot interview that during a WCW show in San Diego in 2000, a fan appeared to him and boldly declared that "someday, [Tenay] will be calling one of [his] matches". That fan was none other than Kazarian himself.

Californian independent circuit (1998–2004)

In 2000, Kazarian joined Ultimate Pro Wrestling, and in March 2001 he formed a tag team with Nova known as Evolution. Evolution won the vacant UPW Tag Team Championships on May 30 2001. He travelled to Japan as part of the UPW roster in 2002, where he faced Steve Corino. He used to freestyle rap along with his close friends John Cena and Samoa Joe while the three of them were on the road in UPW.

He toured the UK, Australia and New Zealand with the now defunct World Wrestling All-Stars promotion in May 2003, where he met Glenn Gilberti and Scott D'Amore, leading to his being offered a job by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Kazarian also worked for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and won a tournament to become the first ever PWG Heavyweight Champion on August 30 2003. He held the title until February 22 2004 when he was defeated by Adam Pearce. However he became their first 2-time champion when he regained the title from Adam Pearce in a "Loser Leaves PWG" match.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003–2005)

Kazarian joined TNA in the summer of 2003, and quickly began pursuing the TNA X Division Championship. He was part of the first ever Ultimate X match, on August 20, 2003 along with Michael Shane and Chris Sabin, which was won by Shane. Kazarian did not appear with TNA between October 2003 and March 2004.

After Chris Sabin was stripped of the title while sidelined with a knee injury, Kazarian eventually won the X-Division title on March 31, 2004, defeating The Amazing Red in a match for the vacant title. He lost the belt to A.J. Styles on June 9, 2004.

In June 2004 he and Shane formed a tag team (informally known as Shazarian) managed by Traci Brooks. They claimed to resent the fact that A.J. Styles had held the TNA X Division Championship, then the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, then had won the X Division Championship once more. This was purportedly illegal according to a previously unknown by law of the TNA rulebook, which stated that an X Division competitor who participated for the Heavyweight Championship could not return to the X Division. On July 28, 2004 he and Shane faced Styles in an Ultimate X match. Kazarian and Shane were declared co-champions when both took possession of the title belt at the same time. On August 11 they defended the title in a twenty two man Gauntlet for the Gold match. Kazarian started at number one and was one of the final three participants, but was eliminated by The Amazing Red, who in turn was eliminated by Petey Williams.

Kazarian was put in the same situation at November's Victory Road where he entered number one in a 20-man X Division Gauntlet and was the last man eliminated.

Throughout late 2004 and early 2005, Kazarian and Shane competed in the TNA tag division. Kazarian's contract with TNA expired in September 2004 and was not renewed, but he continued working with the company on a per appearance basis. The duo eventually began a feud with the 3Live Kru and Jeff Hammond, a NASCAR analyst who was working with TNA as a commentator. This led to a match at the Against All Odds pay-per-view on February 13, 2005 between Hammond and Kru member B.G. James and Shane and Kazarian. Kazarian was pinned by Hammond after Shane miscued on a superkick and knocked him out.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2005)

On February 15, 2005, Kazarian left TNA on good terms and signed with World Wrestling Entertainment. He was assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling, the primary developmental territory of WWE. He made his WWE television debut during an episode of Velocity on July 16, 2005, under the name "The Future" Frankie Kazarian defeating Nunzio, and remained undefeated throughout July and into August. During this time, he picked up victories against Scotty 2 Hotty, Funaki, and Paul London respectively. On August 15, Kazarian announced on his website that he had left WWE two days earlier. The reasons for the departure were said to be that many of WWE's writers still did not know who he was after over a month in the company. Kazarian remained undefeated during his stint in WWE. During his short stint with WWE, Kazarian became the first former TNA X Division champion to be on WWE's active roster.

Return to the independent circuit (2000–2007)

Kazarian returned to the Californian independent circuit shortly after his release. He wrestled on the August 19 Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) show in Los Angeles, Smells Like Steen Spirit, where he teamed with Petey Williams to (unsuccessfully) challenge El Generico and Human Tornado for the PWG Tag Team Championships.

During Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's (Please Don't Call it) The O.C.on May 6, 2006, Kazarian's signature ponytail was cut off by Scorpio Sky, who he was feuding with at the time. This would begin a nine month rivalry during which Scorpio Sky would defeat Kazarian in a "First Blood" match. In September, Kazarian beat Scorpio Sky in the first round of the Battle of Los Angeles Tournament by disqualification when Scorpio's manager Jade Chung attacked Kazarian with scissors when Kazarian was pinning Scorpio. The feud ended on January 13, 2007 when Kazarian beat Scorpio in a "Loser Leaves PWG" match, just as he did with Adam Pearce.

Return to TNA (2006-Present)

Kazarian returned to TNA on July 1, 2006 at Victory Road, in a Championship match loss to TNA X Division Champion Senshi. Afterwards he and his old Shazarian partner Michael Shane (now known as "Maverick" Matt Bentley due to name copyright issues) resumed in their tag team, before disappearing from television for weeks. Later resurfacing with a new goth look, the duo would be joined by Johnny Devine and all became subservient to Raven, forming the stable Serotonin. As part of Serotonin, his name was shortened to the simple and supposedly cryptic Kaz. Kaz eventually became the first Serotonin member to become very rebellious towards Raven. Kaz turned on Raven on June 21 2007 by jolting to the Impact Zone and attacking fellow members of Serotonin, Havok and Martyr, costing him a match against Chris Harris. Since he split up with Serotonin, he has gone back to using his old ring attire and TitanTron which both said the full "Kazarian" - though it was all later changed to only say the simple Kaz (which remains his ring name) except for a few references on the TNA website. Also many of his fellow wrestlers on cameras refer to him by the name "Frankie", the fans at the Impact! Zone also chant "Frankie" more often than "Kaz". Kaz is also the name of his current theme song. Shortly after this, he engaged in a brief feud with Robert Roode over his treatment of Ms. Brooks. Kaz would next be entered in the 2007 Fight For The Right Tournament, which he won by defeating Christian Cage at Genesis in the finals in a ladder match. On the Impact! following Genesis, Kurt Angle barely defeated Kaz to retain the TNA World Championship.

At the 2007 Turning Point PPV, he was partnered with Booker T against Christian Cage and Robert Roode, with Kaz and Booker winning. He then began attacking Dustin Rhodes, and stealing things from Rhodes' alter ego "Black Reign". He defeated Black Reign at Final Resolution with the Wave Of The Future. After defeating Black Reign, Kaz and Black Reign competed in a Four Corner Mouse Trap match were Kaz won but Black Reign ended up getting his things back from Kaz after hitting Kaz with his Darkness Falls weapon. On February 23, Kaz defeated Rellik. After the match, Black Reign and Rellik attacked Kaz. Eric Young ran out to help but got too scared to do anything. At Destination X, Kaz and Young defeated Black Reign and Rellik leading to Kaz and Young (now 'Super Eric') becoming a tag team. On April 13, at Lockdown 2008, they won The Cuffed In A Cage Match. On the April 17 version of TNA Impact!, following Lockdown, Kaz and Young defeated the holders of the TNA World Tag Team Championship, AJ Styles and Tomko and LAX in a triple threat tag team match for the titles after Young's alter ego, "Super Eric" pinned Styles with a bridging suplex. Later in the night, Styles complained to Jim Cornette that since Young was signed to the match, not Super Eric, and Young claims that he and Super Eric are different people, Super Eric's involvement was outside interference. When Eric refused to admit that he was Super Eric, Cornette vacated the titles. Following Kaz and Young's loss to LAX in a Deuces Wild Tournament qualifying match, Kaz competed in and won the Terror Dome Match at Sacrifice, becoming number one contender to the X Division Championship, and also taking Kurt Angle's place in the triple threat match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. The match was won by Samoa Joe, who retained the title. On the June 5 edition of Impact! Kaz won a future title match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in the first ever X Division King of the Mountain Match. He then failed to win the X Division championship at Slammiversary, losing to the X Division Champion Petey Williams. He then challenged Joe the following Thursday on Impact! for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort. He lead Team TNA in the 2008 World X Cup and was in the final round at Victory Road but lost after he pulled off a huge leg drop on Daivari off the top of the Ultimate X structure. On July 21 TNAWrestling.com announced that Kaz had been released, but it had been revealed to be kayfabe. He would be interviewed by Karen Angle about him leaving and he said that he has fallen out of love with wrestling and (Kayfabe) left.

In wrestling

  • Finishing and signature moves

  • With Matt Bentley

  • Managers

  • Nicknames

    • The Coolest
    • The Future
    • The K–A–Z

  • Entrance themes

    • Championships and accomplishments

    Notes

    1This championship reign is not recognized by TNA after Eric Young refused to admit being Super Eric.

    2Kazarian and Michael Shane were declared co-champions after defeating A.J. Styles in an Ultimate X match at Weekly PPV #104 by grabbing the belt at the same time. This co-reign was the second time that both men had won the championship.

    In pop culture

    • Kaz made a cameo appearance on an episode of The Man Show where Jimmy Kimmel & Adam Carolla learned how to wrestle. He also appeared in the film Backyard Dogs in 2000 as "Snake Duggan" and was on an episode of Distraction with Curry Man and Samoa Joe. Kazarian was also referenced in Mike Vallely's documentary, Mike V's Greatest Hits, in which one part of it involved the pro skater spending part of his time as a wrestler. He also made a cameo appearance in MTV's Made when the Motor City Machine Guns were making a Michigan choir boy into a professional wrestler.
    • The Kazarian / Kaz entrance attire logos are written in the same font as the logos of the band Metallica.
    • His finishing moves are named after quotes from the movie Back to the Future.
    • During his final interview with Karen Angle in TNA, Kazarian stated; "it's better to burn out than to fade away", a quote famously attributed to Kurt Cobain, although actually from the Def Leppard song "Rock of Ages", not the Neil Young song "Hey Hey, My My" that everyone usually acredits.

    References

    External links

    Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
    This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
    Last updated on Friday October 10, 2008 at 18:32:24 PDT (GMT -0700)
    View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation

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