Frankie Kazarian reflects on a difficult year.
Between personal and professional losses, 2021 has been tough on Frankie Kazarian, though he isn't blaming anyone except himself for his struggles. In a new video posted online ahead of AEW Full Gear, the longtime SCU member spoke about losing focus and how moving forward he plans on being more focused and selfish than he has ever been.
He said the following (video below, via Frankie Kazarian's Twitter):
"As we begin to close out 2021, I find myself reflecting on this year. Quite honestly, for me, personally and professionally, it's been a rough one. I have a lot to be thankful for. I have a lot of blessings. I have a beautiful wife. I have a beautiful, smart, funny son who is everything to me. When I reflect on my blessings, I reflect on this year and quite honestly, it's been pretty shitty.
May 12, I lost my tag team. Christopher Daniels and I lost the Young Bucks and as a result, we can never team again. Five days later I lost my father. My dad passed away. That was undeniably the biggest blow I've ever received in my life and as anybody who's ever lost a parent could tell you, you don't recover. You learn to live with it but you never recover. A piece of you is gone forever.
The next six months, one of the things I lost was focus. I didn't care about winning matches. I was out for recompense. I was out for blood. So much so that they decided to throw this cute little tag, this Elite Hunter nickname on me. Now, remember something about that name; that's their name, not mine. As far as I'm concerned, they can take the Elite Hunter and they can shove it up their ass because I'm just Frankie Kazarian and being just Frankie Kazarian is good enough.
Tonight we have AEW Full Gear which is going to be yet another awesome pay-per-view because that's what AEW does. It brings you the best and like a lot of you, I will be watching this PPV from inside the arena. I'll be watching performers less talented than I am, who are given more opportunities than I am, performing. Guess what, they're gonna steal the show. Before you think this is me going 'woe is me,' or a pity party or me feeling sorry for myself. No. The reason those guys are in the spot they're in and I'm not falls on one person, me. It's my fault.
Because I've lost that focus. But going forward, I promise, I'm more focused than I've ever been. Going forward, I'm going to be more selfish than I've ever been. Because if I have one flaw over the last two decades in this career, it's that I've been too nice. I valued friendships and relationships over career advancements. Quite honestly, I haven't been a big enough prick. Well, that changes because as far as I'm concerned, everybody in the AEW locker room is my enemy. So going forward, I'm going to be focused, and I'm going to be selfish. If anybody has a problem with that, I welcome you to try to shut me up. If you disagree with any of this, I welcome you to prove me wrong. Full Gear is going to be great. Enjoy it. I know I will."
Enjoy #AEWFullGear tonight, I know I will… pic.twitter.com/WyOCPSnWYx
— Frankie Kazarian (@FrankieKazarian) November 13, 2021
Kazarian last competed on the November 9 episode of AEW Dark, losing to Dante Martin.
Fightful will have live coverage of AEW Full Gear tonight beginning at 7 p.m. ET. We will also have a post-show review and news from the media scrums immediately following the event's conclusion.
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