Frankie Kazarian

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Frankie Kazarian (born August 4, 1977 in Yucca Valley, California) is an American professional wrestler who has worked for numerous promotions, most prominently Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment.

Career

Frankie 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

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 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.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

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.

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

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. 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 a lack of attention from writers and WWE's desire to have Kazarian cut his hair.

Independent circuit

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.