In an interview with Metal Injection, Ring of Honor Wrestling star Frankie Kazarian commented on having freedom in regards to his character in the company, balancing music and wrestling, meeting the late Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister and more.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On bringing more heavy metal elements into his wrestling character: “In the last couple of years, I’ve really been trying to extend the heavy metal part of me into the wrestling part of me more than in the past. In the past, I was kind of bound down by the shackles of what a pro wrestler should look like. Well you know what, I want to look like a kid at a heavy metal concert. I want to look like a guy at a Maiden show.”
On how being with ROH has helped him build his character with more freedom: “Daniels and myself ran into problems with logos in the past with TNA and other places. Whether it be him wearing a shirt that had Marvel Comics on it or me wearing a Pantera shirt to the ring. We were always told, ‘Nope, don’t do that’ and yeah, Ring of Honor has never said a word to me. So I would probably not be allowed to wear the battle vest or a (Judas) Priest shirt if we weren’t in Ring of Honor, but I think Ring of Honor understands that this is an extension of my character. and I don’t think any of the bands would mind either — ‘Hey, this guy is flying the flag for heavy metal.’”
On why ‘And Justice For All’ by Metallica opened Kazarian up to a new world of metal: “I didn’t even know you could do that in heavy metal, because I just wasn’t exposed to it until then. So it just hit me. And because of Metallica, I started looking back into the history of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple and Priest and Maiden and those types of bands. And I really discovered what built heavy metal.”
On meeting Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister: “Lemmy was there at The Pond in Anaheim, and me walking in being a metalhead, and finding out what I was going to do or not do that day, and seeing, like ‘Holy s***, there’s Motorhead! there’s Lemmy! Why is he here?’ And this was when he started doing (HHH’s) music. So, I’m saying to myself, ‘I have to go up and say hello to him.’ And I had that opportunity, even though it was just a little, ‘Hello sir, I’m a big fan of you… ‘Oh, hello thank you’ and that was it. But that was all I needed. I probably wouldn’t have had that opportunity if not for wrestling.”
The interview is available in full at this link.
