Spotlight on Frankie Kazarian
As a teenager aspiring to become a professional wrestler, Kazarian saved his money and upon graduating high school, this resident of California packed his belongs and migrated east to Boston, MA to enroll in the school run by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Hall of Famer, Killer Kowalski. For your information, Kowalski is responsible for training such tremendous athletes as Triple H, Chyna, Perry Saturn, A-Train, Slyk Wagner Brown, and April Hunter. Eight months after he began his training, Kazarian made his in-ring debut in 1997.
After making his debut, Kazarian returned home to the west coast and began competing for Rick Bassman's Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW). UPW was a great place to get noticed by WWE because UPW produced such athletes as John Cena, Nathan Jones, Jon Heidenreich, Sakoda, and Victoria. Kazarian spent the early part of his career learning new moves and improving his current repertoire. Thanks to his competing in UPW, it opened up several doors for him, as Kazarian had several dark matches with the company.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) ceased operations in 2001, and Nova ventured out west and joined UPW. Nova began to team with Kazarian and were known as Evolution, not to be confused with the current Evolution stable in WWE. On May 30, 2001, Evolution won a tournament to win the UPW Tag Team Titles. Knowing the duo could be a huge force on both coasts, Evolution cruised over to New Jersey and competed in Phoenix Championship Wrestling (PCW), which was run by Nova's twin brother, "Big 80s" Donnie B.
On July 20, 2001, Evolution gained more tag team gold when they defeated The Backseat Boyz and Joey Matthews & Christian York in a 3 Way Dance to win the PCW Tag Team Titles. Evolution became a rarity winning tag titles in independent companies run on different coasts.
Looking to see how he would fare in singles competition, Karaian entered All Pro Wrestling (APW), also located in California, and competed in their annual tournament known as the King of the Indies. The tournament took place over a span of two days, beginning on October 26, 2001 and ending the next night. Unfortunately for Kazarian, he did not see tournament action the following night as he lost to current Ring of Honor (RoH) champion Samoa Joe in the first round. The tournament was eventually won by "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson.
As PCW Tag Team champions, Evolution were successful. They had successful defenses against such teams as Crowbar & Chris Hamrick and Ric Blade & the Amazing Red. However, that reign came to an end on March 3, 2002 when Evolution lost the titles to The Backseat Boyz in Stanhope, NJ.
Evolution began to get recognized by many wrestling companies, including international promotions. In the spring of 2002, Evolution began touring Zero-One. On April 27, 2002, Evolution earned one of the bigger victories as a team when they beat former ECW champion Steve Corino & CW Anderson in Osaka, Japan. Evolution closed the tour with a victory over Naohiro Hoshikawa & Yoshito Sasaki in Matsuyama, Japan on May 3, 2002.
Five days after the tour ended so did their UPW Tag Team Title reign. At the famed Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, CA, Evolution were upended by The Ballard Bros. Evolution's better days were behind them because Nova would go on to sign a contract with WWE.
Kazarian sharpened his skills enough to become a full time singles star. He ventured back to PCW on May 18, 2002 and defeated one of the few men to graduate from ECW's House of Hardcore, "The Prodigy" Tom Marquez, for the PCW Television Title in Jersey City, NJ. This was one of the first major singles titles won by Kazarian, and wouldn't be the last.
Look to add more gold in his arsenal, Kazarian went back to UPW and was booked to compete in an interesting match. He faced UPW Light Heavyweight champion B-Boy and Zero-One Junior Heavyweight champion Spanky in a 3 Way Dance. It was a two falls match, similar to the Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit vs Chris Jericho match at WrestleMania 2000. The first fall saw B-Boy's title on the line, which was won by Kazarian. The second fall was for Spanky's title, which was also won by Kazarian. Kazarian walked out of the match with the PCW TV Title, the UPW Light Heavyweight Title and the Zero-One Junior Heavyweight Title. His career just got brighter.
In another huge match in the career of Kazarian, PCW held a Russ Haas Memorial on August 31, 2002. The highlight of the night was a tag team tournament. There were several other matches on the show. One of them saw Kazarian retain the PCW TV Title in a 3 Way Dance against former ECW champion Jerry Lynn and the feared Low Ki.
Low Ki got his revenge on Kazarian on September 16, 2002 during Kazarian's tour with Zero-One. He defended and lost the Zero-One Junior Heavyweight Title to Low Ki in Tokyo, Japan. With mutual respect present between the two athletes, Kazarian teamed with Low Ki during another Zero-One tour on December 12, 2002 at Sumo Hall. Unfortunately, the teamed to lose against former ECW champion Masato Tanaka and Tatsuhito Takaiwa.
Every year, Jim Kettner holds the Super 8 Tournament in the spring during one of his East Coast Wrestling Association (ECWA) shows. In 2003, Kazarian was invited to compete in it. In the first round, he defeated future foe Chris Sabin, but lost in the next round to current WWE star Paul London.
Looking to win another championship in PCW, Kazarian took part in the tournament to crown a new champion after the previous champion, the late Malice, was stripped of the title. Kazarian reached the finals on May 3, 2003 and lost to Matt Vandal, who was the last man to hold the PCW Title.
Kazarian was signed to compete for Andrew McMannus' World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) overseas promotion. On May 21, 2003, in a tournament to crown a WWA Cruiserweight champion, Kazarian lost to Chris Sabin. Four days later on the WWA tour, Sabin defeated Jerry Lynn, Swinger and Kazarian to unify the NWA:TNA X Division and WWA Cruiserweight titles.
Kazarian was then given the opportunity to compete for NWA:TNA. On June 4, 2003, he made his debut, teaming with Matt Stryker and CM Punk to beat Swinger, Damian Dothart and Kid Romeo. The was the beginning of a prosperous career in TNA.
In one of his final matches in PCW, he lost the PCW TV Title to Donnie Bon Jovi, aka Donnie B., in a 3 Way Dance also involving Mike Kruel in Toms River, NJ.
June 25, 2003 was the start of Kazarian making a mark in NWA:TNA. He began feuding with X Division champion Chris Sabin after Sabin began to call HIMSELF "The Future." Kazarian would have none of that. In a non-title match, Kazarian got a big victory over the brash champion.
The victory wasn't just a wakeup call to Sabin. Because of the big victory, Kazarian actually received a NWA Title match against AJ Styles on July 2. Kazarian put up a fight, but came up short of winning the NWA Title.
For some odd reason, even though he won a non-title match against Sabin several weeks earlier, Kazarian still had to prove himself that he deserved a shot. On July 9, he competed in a #1 Contenders Match, and won, defeating Kid Romeo, Matt Sydal, Alter Boy Luke, Delirious, and Matt Stryker to win the shot. The hotheaded Sabin came out after the match and demanded the match take place right then and there. Kazarian accepted, and lost. A fresh Kazarian got a rematch the following week, but came up short then too.
The Kazarian-Sabin feud continued into the next month and on August 6, Kazarian battled Sabin to a no-contest, which resulted in the title being held up. The set the stage for the first ever Ultimate X match. An X covered the ring and the belt hung in the middle. The only way to get the title was to climb across the X and to the center of the ring. The match took place between Kazarian, Sabin and Michael Shane. Shane walked on August 20, 2003 with the X Division Title. NWA:TNA held a Super X tournament on August 27. In the tournament, Kazarian beat the X Division champion Michael Shane, but then fell to Chris Sabin, who won the tournament.
Kazarian continued to wrestle on the California independent scene. He began to compete in the new promotion called Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG). PWG held a tournament on August 30, 2003 to crown their first champion. Kazarian didn't disappoint and won the PWG Title in Industry, CA by beating Joey Ryan in the finals. In one of his first title defenses, he successfully retained the PWG Title by beating "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles in a 3 Way Dance.
It was around this time, some time after the Ultimate X I, that Kazarian wasn't being used by NWA:TNA. It wasn't known why he wasn't being used, but Kazarian had no problem finding work elsewhere. At UPW's Fifth Anniversary Show in Anaheim, CA, Kazarian retained the UPW Light Heavyweight title in a 3 Way Dance against Jerry Lynn and former WCW Cruiserweight champion Evan Karagias on February 20, 2004. Two nights later, Kazarian wasn't as successful as he lost the PWG Title to Adam Pearce in a Chicago Street Fight.
During his NWA:TNA hiatus, Kazarian had a chance to continue to compete for Zero-One. He was a part of their Third Anniversary show on February 29. He teamed with current NWA champion AJ Styles to lose to the NWA International Light Heavyweight Tag Team champions Leonardo Spanky & Low Ki.
NWA:TNA decided that they were ready to bring back Kazarian, and "The Future" returned on March 3, 2004, scoring an impressive victory of Jerry Lynn. On March 31, after months of chasing the NWA:TNA X Division Title, he defeated The Amazing Red to win the vacant title. Sabin was stripped of the title after suffering a knee injury, and Kazarian was at the right place at the right time. In one of his first defenses, Kazarian scored a win over the fast-rising Sonjay Dutt on April 14, 2004.
Kazarian is going to be an integral part of the building of NWA:TNA, now that they have secured a television deal on Fox Sports. Kazarian representing the X Division for the NWA is a smart move and brings an innovative style to not just the division, but also the entire company. "The Future" is bright and there's not stopping him.
For more information on Kazarian, check out http://www.thefuturefrankiekazarian.com and http://www.nwatna.com.
John Gjoni
johnftw7533@aol.com
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