{"id":34036,"date":"2018-12-31T16:23:05","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T21:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=34036"},"modified":"2018-12-31T16:23:05","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T21:23:05","slug":"djz-departs-impact-wrestling-becomes-free-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2018\/12\/31\/djz-departs-impact-wrestling-becomes-free-agent\/","title":{"rendered":"DJZ Departs IMPACT Wrestling, Becomes Free Agent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At midnight tonight, <strong>DJZ<\/strong>&#8216;s latest contract with <strong>IMPACT Wrestling<\/strong> will expire, and DJZ will be heading into the free agency market of pro wrestling.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">At midnight tonight, i will be a free agent for the first time in 7 years.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and 2019 seems like the perfect time to be available for whatever new opportunities may come my way. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QdA266FTXZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/QdA266FTXZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Joaquin Wilde (@joaquinwilde_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joaquinwilde_\/status\/1079824256182222849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 31, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">i would like to thank <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/impactwrestling?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@IMPACTWRESTLING<\/a> for the last 7 years. They gave me a platform to hone my craft, make mistakes, learn from them and grow as a performer. They stuck w\/ me through difficult times and provided the opportunity to wrestle for a living. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6qo9QCwjCG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/6qo9QCwjCG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Joaquin Wilde (@joaquinwilde_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joaquinwilde_\/status\/1079825275557433344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 31, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Debuting in 2004, the 32-year old DJZ began as indie star <strong>Shiima Xion<\/strong>, working primarily out of Pennsylvania&#8217;s <strong>International Wrestling Cartel (IWC)<\/strong>, as he worked through the ranks of the US indies with the likes of <strong>Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW), All American Wrestling (AAW), CHIKARA<\/strong>, and even showcase matches in Ring of Honor.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"IWC Video Archive: Jerry Lynn vs. Shiima Xion\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/F75eHO_Z64g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In June of 2011, he made his TNA\/IMPACT Wrestling debut a <strong>Zema Ion<\/strong>, and immediately became a contender in the X-Division. Over the course of his seven years with IMPACT, he captured the X-Division Championship on two separate occasions, with his last reign being a 148-day run from the summer of 2016 into 2017. This spring he formed a short lived tag team, <strong>Z &amp; E<\/strong>, alongside <strong>Andrew Everett<\/strong>, capturing IMPACT Tag Team gold, but after their title loss, both stars disappeared from television. Everett departed IMPACT shortly after. DJ Z hasn&#8217;t been seen on IMPACT television since a June loss to <strong>Desi Hit Squad<\/strong> with Z &amp; E.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZeQ6lQazTZk<\/p>\n<p>DJ Z has remained active on the US indie circuit throughout 2018 despite his lack of appearances in IMPACT, where he&#8217;s the current reigning AAW Heritage Champion and working with <strong>EVOLVE, Glory Pro<\/strong>, AIW,<strong> Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), Beyond Wrestling, Major League Wrestling (MLW)<\/strong> and others.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Trevor Lee vs. DJZ - 8\/31\/18 - AAW Pro Wrestling\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uCoqKapwXi8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At midnight tonight, DJZ&#8216;s latest contract with IMPACT Wrestling will expire, and DJZ will be heading into the free agency market of pro wrestling. At midnight tonight, i will be a free agent for the first time in 7 years. &#8230;and 2019 seems like the perfect time to be available for whatever new opportunities may [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":649,"featured_media":34041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[2944,226],"class_list":["post-34036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-north-america","tag-djz","tag-impact-wrestling"],"modified_by":"Jamie Greer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/649"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}