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*'''Finishing and signature moves'''
*'''Finishing and signature moves'''
**'''''Wave of the Future''''' ([[Facebuster#Complete Shot|Swinging reverse STO]])
**'''''Wave of the Future''''' ([[Facebuster#Complete Shot|Swinging reverse STO]])
**'''''[[De Lorean time machine|Flux Capacitator]]''''' ([[Moonsault#Moonsault slam|Moonsault side slam]])
**'''''[[De Lorean time machine|Flux Capacitator]]''''' ([[Moonsault#Moonsault slam|Rolling Moonsault side slam]])
**'''''[[Back to the Future]]''''' ([[Professional wrestling throws#Electric chair drop|Bridging wrist lock electric chair drop]])
**'''''[[Back to the Future]]''''' ([[Professional wrestling throws#Electric chair drop|Bridging wrist lock electric chair drop]])
**'''[[Professional wrestling holds#Half nelson choke|Half nelson choke]] with [[Professional wrestling holds#Body scissors|bodyscissors]]''' - [[Pro Wrestling Guerrilla|PWG]]
**'''[[Professional wrestling holds#Half nelson choke|Half nelson choke]] with [[Professional wrestling holds#Body scissors|bodyscissors]]''' - [[Pro Wrestling Guerrilla|PWG]]

Revision as of 21:14, 28 May 2008

Frankie Kazarian
Born (1977-08-04) August 4, 1977 (age 47)
Palm Springs, California, U.S.
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Frankie Gerdelman
Frankie Kazarian
Kaz
Kazarian
Billed height6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Billed weight225 lb (102 kg)
Billed fromAnaheim, California
Trained byKiller Kowalski
Jesse Hernandez
Bill Anderson
UPW Training Staff
Debut1998

Frank B. Gerdelman (born August 4 1977) is an American professional wrestler who currently works for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as Kaz and has 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.

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 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 bylaw 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)

Kazarian and Shannon Moore after winning a match at a taping of Velocity.

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, 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. Many believe Kazarian left because WWE wanted him to cut his long hair much shorter.[citation needed] However, he did cut his hair once he left WWE. 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 (2006–Current)

Kazarian returned to the Californian independent circuit shortly after his release. He wrestled on the August 19 Pro Wrestling Guerrilla 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 9 month rivalry. During which Scorpio Sky would defeat Frankie in a "First Blood" match. In September, Frankie beat Scorpio Sky in the first round of the Battle Of Los Angeles Tournament by disqualification. When Scorpio's manager Jade Chung attacked Frankie with scissors While Frankie was pinning Scorpio. The feud ended on January 13, 2007 when Frankie beat Scorpio in a "Loser Leaves PWG" match just as he did with Adam Pearce.

On February 23rd PWG announced that Frankie Kazarian will be returning to PWG for what may be a one night only match in the ¡Dia de los Dangerous! tournament, which will crown the new PWG World Champion, as a replacement for Austin Aires. Frankie Kazarian did not get past the first round of the tournament and it is unknown whether he will return to PWG again.

Return to TNA (2006–Current)

The Kazarian returned to TNA on July 16 2006 at Victory Road, in a Championship match loss to 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. Since then he has been attacking Dustin Rhodes, and stealing things from 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 Eric Young defeated Black Reign and Rellik. The week after, Kurt Angle defeated Kaz on Impact!. Kaz and Eric Young (now 'Super Eric') have become a tag team. On April 13, at TNA Lockdown 2008, he and Eric Young won The Cuffed In A Cage Match. On the April 17th version of TNA iMPACT!, following TNA Lockdown, Kaz and Eric 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 Eric Young was signed to the match, not Super Eric, and Eric claims that he & 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. He will face Petey Williams at Slammiversary for the X Division title.

In wrestling

  • Nicknames
    • The Future
    • Kaz
    • The Kazarian
    • The K-A-Z

Championships and accomplishments

1Kazarian and Michael Shane were declared co-champions after defeating 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.

Other media

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 (an alter-ego of "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels) 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.

Trivia

When he was younger, he competed in a small, lesser organization and even had a match with skateboarder Mike Vallely.

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.

His finishing moves are named after quotes from the movie Back to the Future.

The Kazarian / Kaz entrance attire logos are written in the same font as the logos of the band Metallica.

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.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frankie Kazarian.
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