Former AEW champion reveals how close he was to signing with WWE

A former AEW champion had made significant strides to receive an offer from WWE to sign him. He recently gave an insight into how close he came to signing with the promotion.

The aforementioned star, who is a former AEW World Tag Team Champion, is Frankie Kazarian. He has been a tenured performer in professional wrestling, having wrestled for top promotions like WWE in 2005 and then becoming a top star in TNA Wrestling with two successful runs. He even had a tenure in All Elite Wrestling in 2019 that lasted for three years.

During his time as an AEW star, Kazarian made his third return to TNA in 2021 and became a full-time part of their roster after leaving Tony Khan's promotion in 2023. In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, he was asked about the time he came close to signing with WWE after leaving All Elite Wrestling. The TNA superstar revealed that there were some conversations with the Stamford-based promotion, but he knew that it was probably not going to work out.

“There were conversations, but logistically, it probably wasn’t gonna work. I wasn’t a signature away, but there were a lot of really good conversations. A matter of fact, I can say this, when I re-debuted in January of 2023 I just came out and basically promo saying, I was here as a guest last time, but now I’m back for good. I signed a multi-year deal.”- H/T ChrisVanVliet.com

Former WWE star Frankie Kazarian names his TNA Mount Rushmore

In the same interview, Frankie Kazarian was asked about his TNA Mount Rushmore. He chose the man who started the promotion, Jeff Jarrett, Kurt Angle, AJ Styles, and Samoa Joe, while also name-dropping Sting in a special mention.

“I mean, you got to put Jeff Jarrett on there. I think you have to put Jeff Jarrett on there, 100% you have to put Jeff on there. And now this is where it gets dicey, because you can say Yes, Sting, you say Kurt, but those guys also came from somewhere else, but, like, it’s hard to not put Kurt on. There has to be Jeff, Kurt. Of course, you have to put AJ on. Of course, Jeff, Kurt, AJ and probably Samoa Joe or Sting? I would go with Joe, just because Joe made TNA and TNA made Joe. Sting was already a massive global star, and I’m not discounting what Sting did for our company.”- H/T ChrisVanVliet.com

With Kazarian an integral part of TNA Wrestling while also making a few WWE appearances as part of TNA's partnership with them, it remains to be seen what the future holds for him.

Read all the hottest WWE news from Sportskeeda by choosing us as your preferred source. Click HERE.

Edited by N.S Walia