Former TNA Impact Wrestling star Frankie Kazarian recently spoke to Between The Ropes.
On the last few months with the company: āHonestly, since after Bound for Glory, there just wasnāt any direction for Bad Influence the tag-team.Ā We continued to ask questions, we continued to pitch ideas and it was just like āOK, weāre thinking of this or thatā but we never got a straight answer and we were just kind of floating.Ā It kind of bothered us because, honestly, weāre too good for this.Ā We should really be involved in something.Ā When Davey (Richards) and Eddie (Edwards) came in, we were kind of licking our chops.Ā Sweet! This could be six months, a year.Ā A lot of folks on the internet and within the wrestling community were excited for the potential matchup of us and The Wolves.Ā So were we and so were they when they came in.Ā So we thought we were going to get back in the fold and it never happened and we never got a straight answer other than weāre going with other teams.Ā What can you say other than OK?Ā After the UK, we did Lockdown with Muta and Sanada.Ā That was great and after that we were left off television.Ā Right then it was like OK, they literally have nothing going on for us.Ā And here we are now.ā
On seeing so many longtime TNA wrestlers no longer with the company: āItās different.Ā My last day at TNA, I said this to a few people, I didnāt feel like I was leaving TNA because I didnāt feel like I recognized the company.Ā There was still people Iāll miss but it didnāt feel like I was leaving TNA.Ā Honestly, there was a couple of red flags, and this was even preceding when I was starting to make up my mind about my current situation, AJ Styles leaving obviously, because Iām very close to AJ and knowing what he was going through and talking to him, that was huge.Ā I was like wait a minute.Ā I say this as his friend and I say this selfishly, I donāt understand why they didnāt do whatever it took to keep him there.Ā And Iām not just saying that because heās a friend.Ā Iām saying that because heās a franchise guy.Ā Heās one of the best in the world.Ā Heās a good human being.Ā Heās a guy you can continue to build the company around.Ā He leaves and real soon thereafter Jeff Jarrett leaves so that was a big red flag being waved.Ā Wait a minute ⦠things are changing.Ā I donāt know that theyāre changing for the better.Ā It could just be me.Ā Internally, management, complete turnover, people on the creative team, people in management.Ā It really is just different.ā
One the talk last year of TNA being close to being sold: āI didnāt know.Ā I heard the rumors and thereās no one I can really ask.Ā Itās not like I can call Dixie (Carter) and go hey, are we being sold?Ā I could but I would never do that.Ā Obviously, itās none of my business.Ā I would hope and pray that if that were to go down that they would call a meeting and say āhey guys, by the way, weāre selling the companyā.Ā When it was all going down, I had people here i the gym near where I live asking me if TNA is being sold.Ā I was like I donāt think so.Ā And then we all got an email from Janice Carter one day saying, first email and last I promise you Iāll get from Janice Carter believe it or not, saying please donāt believe the rumors, weāre not being sold.Ā And I thought that was odd because I was like wow, all these years and all these rumors of TNA and everything thatās ever been said and now we finally get a letter saying donāt believe the rumors.Ā OK.Ā All I can do is take that at face value but we later found out that maybe that was ⦠I still donāt know what the situation was because thatās all part of the business side.Ā I had hopes that whoever wanted to buy it wanted to buy it because they were passionate about wrestling and wanted to try and do something different with the product. But apparently itās not being sold, itās not for sale, thereās not a for sale sign on it.ā