Kazarian Talks X-Division, If TNA Is Using Samoa Joe Properly, Spike TV & More

Kazarian was on Busted Open last week, here are some highlights:

Kazarian's thoughts on Destination X and the new focus on the X Division: "The Destination X pay-per-view I thought was incredibly successful. A lot of us worked very hard even months before to just try to put things together and throw around ideas. It came off without a hitch. AJ and Chris had an incredible match. The four-way for the contract, the showcase, some old faces some new guys who can do some incredible things. You had debuts; every match brought a little something different. You had guys that were in the cornerstone of the X Division like myself, Samoa Joe, AJ, Chris, Alex Shelley, you had new faces and it was just awesome. This has opened the eyes of management and they have promised to put a new focus behind the X Division. Which is great because that's what made TNA or iMPACT Wrestling stand out from the get-go. So I think there's definitely a place for that and there's definitely a place for everything else. It was just awesome. I was just happy to be a part of it."

Kazarian on the appreciation of the X Division: "I can tell you first hand that guys like Hogan and Bischoff; especially Bischoff, he does appreciate the athleticism. I know that for a fact. Guys like Hogan and Bischoff they have been doing this many years and they have been very successful and they've always produced a very story branded product; which is what's needed in wrestling. I think that they've always thought that there might be a disconnect between the X Division athletes and getting certain characters across. At times in the past, I think the X Division has been labeled as a faceless division with just a bunch of wrestlers, and that's in part true; however with this new focus, we can show some incredible matches and develop some really really cool characters. For one, in the last few weeks the work Austin Aries has done is awesome. Austin's a great wrestler, he's a huge, huge addition I think to TNA and his character in the last couple of weeks has come across as much more so than say previous X Division wrestlers have. So I think that as long as the people are invested in the X Division, I think that management has no choice but to be."

Kazarian's thoughts on Samoa Joe and if TNA is doing right by him: "I don't know if what I think really matters?I think that they have done Joe right in the sense that since he's been at TNA, Samoa Joe as a brand name has been established as the "bad ass killer", former Heavyweight Champ, X ?Champ, people know what Joe can do because of the form TNA has given him. And Joe, he's incredibly talented. He's one of the most athletically gifted guys I've ever been in the ring with. And I've known Joe for the better part of twelve years. What's going on with Joe lately in the storyline with Zero points, it's a matter of "stay tuned". I know wrestling fans again, including myself, patience isn't a virtue. It's just a matter of "STAY-TUNED" and see what happens. Obviously if you're a Samoa Joe fan, you're going to be a little upset because he has zero points in the Bound for Glory Series. However nothing lasts forever, things will change and they always do in this business."

Kazarian's thoughts on SpikeTV and fan-base: "Viewership's been somewhat steady, I don't really read the ratings but I know it's been steady. (Doug states that TNA's number 1 on Spike TV) I hope that SpikeTV recognizes that because we've brought them a lot of attention and they've in-turn been very good to us. Just from being on the road and talking to fans, I think our fan-base is still as strong as ever. It's still a bit of a grass roots champagne and word of mouth. The brand TNA iMPACT is still getting out there and we're all just trying to help spread it."

Source: Busted Open