Frankie Kazarian Make Surprise Appearance at Hard to Kill 2023, Signs Deal with Impact

Impact Wrestling’s Hard To Kill 2023 event tonight in Atlanta, Georgia featured a surprise appearance by Frankie Kazarian.

While he did not specifically mention AEW, Kazrian stated in his promo segment to the live crowd that after his return from his brief stint in Impact last year, he had to make a decision on either to remain complacent with his career and be with “people he thought were his friends” or bet on himself and push himself harder by walking away. Kazarian stated that he decided to push himself harder and revealed that he recently signed an official long-term contract with Impact.

Welcome home @FrankieKazarian!#HardToKill pic.twitter.com/3leZlsQHFF

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 14, 2023

Following his promo segment, Impact confirmed on Twitter that Kazarian had signed an official contract with the company.

.@FrankieKazarian signs with @IMPACTWRESTLING!#HardToKill pic.twitter.com/UyAPVQeG2m

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 14, 2023

In regards to Kazarian’s status with AEW, PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Kazarian’s promo about his decision to sign with Impact was him pretty much telling the truth about his feelings in AEW following his return from Impact last year.

Kazarian reportedly had requested and was granted his release from AEW following his match against Josh Alexander for the Impact World Championship at Impact’s Over Drive 2022 event this past November. Johnson reported that those spoken to stated that Kazarian’s release was a completely amicable situation and AEW officials agreed that he would have a chance to do more in Impact than if he stayed in the company at this late point of his career.

Johnson also reported that the feeling within AEW was that Kazarian “did business the right way” with how he handled his release request and the door is open for him for a potential return in the future.