Frankie Kazarian

American professional wrestler

Frank Benedict Gerdelman (born August 4, 1977) is an American professional wrestler. He currently wrestles for Impact Wrestling and competes under the ring name Frankie Kazarian.

Frankie Kazarian
Kazarian during an autograph signing in March 2008
Born (1977-08-04) August 4, 1977 (age 47)
Palm Springs, California
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Frankie
Frankie Gerdelman
Frankie Kazarian
Kaz
Kazarian
Suicide
Billed height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Billed weight210 lb (95 kg)
Billed fromAnaheim, California
"Beautiful" Southern California
Yucca Valley, California
Trained byKiller Kowalski
Jesse Hernandez
Bill Anderson
Ultimate Pro Wrestling
DebutMay 15, 1998

He is also known for his time wrestling in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), Ring of Honor (ROH), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He was known for his team with Christopher Daniels and Scorpio Sky called Bad Influence (later SoCal Uncensored) .

During his time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling/Impact Wrestling, Kazarian has been a five-time TNA/Impact X Division Champion and three-time TNA World Tag Team Champion.

Career

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All Elite Wrestling

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On January 8, 2019, Kazarian signed a contract with All Elite Wrestling (AEW).[1]

Kazarian would enter a tournament along with Scorpio Sky to crown the first AEW World Tag Team Champions. Sky replaced Kazarian's original partner Christopher Daniels after Daniels was attacked by the Lucha Brothers before a match.

They would defeat Best Friends (Trent? and Chuck Taylor) on the October 16 episode of Dynamite and The Dark Order (Evil Uno and Stu Grayson) on the October 23 episode of Dynamite.[2][3] On the October 30 episode of Dynamite, Kazarian and Sky would defeat the Lucha Brothers (Pentagón Jr. and Fénix) in the finals to become the first AEW World Tag Team Champions. This was Kazarian's first championship in AEW.[4] They would lose the tag titles to Kenny Omega and "Hangman" Adam Page at Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Part Deux: Second Wave.[5] Sky would leave the team to focus more on singles matches after the loss. Kazarian would go back to teaming with Daniels afterwards. He would team with Sky again for one night when they face FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) for the AEW World Tag Team Championships on the September 30 episode of Dynamite but lost.[6]

When teaming with Daniels, Kazarian would cut a promo and say that the tag team would break up the next time that they lost.[7] They would earn a shot at AEW World Tag Team Championships but they ended up losing to The Young Bucks on the May 12 episode of Dynamite and had to split up as a tag team.[8]

At the Impact Wrestling pay-per-view Hard To Kill, Kazarian cut a promo and said that he asked to be released from his contract with AEW and wanted to return to Impact Wrestling.[9]

On December 26, 2022, Kazarian had his last match in AEW. He faced Konosuke Takeshita and lost.[10]

Impact Wrestling

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On July 29, 2021, Kazarian would make his return to Impact Wrestling, having originally worked there when it was called Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).[11]

References

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  1. "WOR: All Elite Wrestling Announced, Jon Jones, Rizin, More!". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  2. "10/16/2019 AEW Dynamite Results: 2 Title Matches & The Tag Team Title Tournament Continues". Fightful. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  3. "10/23/2019 AEW Dynamite Results: Tag Tournament Finalists Are Revealed & Britt Baker's Homecoming". Fightful. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  4. "10/30/2019 AEW Dynamite Results: The First Ever AEW World Tag Team Champions Are Crowned". Fightful. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  5. "Spoiler notes and results from Jericho cruise AEW Dynamite taping". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  6. "AEW Dynamite 9/30/20 Results: 2 Title Matches, Britt Baker Returns & Cody Gives His Answer!". Fightful. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  7. "AEW Dynamite New Year's Smash night one live results: Omega-Fenix". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  8. "SCU Done As A Tag Team Following Loss To The Young Bucks On 5/12 AEW Dynamite". Fightful. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  9. "Impact Wrestling Hard To Kill results: Powell's live review of Josh Alexander vs. Bully Ray in a Full Metal Mayhem match for the Impact World Championship, Jordynne Grace vs. Mickie James in a Knockouts Title vs. career match, Trey Miguel vs. Black Taurus for the X Division Championship, four-way for the Impact Tag Titles". Fightful. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  10. "SCU Done As A Tag Team Following Loss To The Young Bucks On 5/12 AEW Dynamite". Fightful. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  11. "SCU Done As A Tag Team Following Loss To The Young Bucks On 5/12 AEW Dynamite". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved October 14, 2023.

Other websites

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