Mike Santana Reveals Why He Joined AEW Instead of WWE In 2019

Mike Santana has explained why he and his former partner Ortiz, signed with AEW instead of WWE in 2019.

The duo of Santana and Ortiz were a big part of the early years of All Elite Wrestling. The tag team made their debut for the Tony Khan promotion at the very first All Out event. They teamed with Chris Jericho to defeat The Elite in the main event of the Inaugural Dynamite episode and were part of the Inner Circle faction that dominated the company during its early run.

During a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, Mike Santana revealed that they had been in talks with WWE at the time as well. Explaining why they picked AEW instead, the 34-year-old said that the lighter schedule was a big reason:

“A big thing with that was the schedule. We both had young kids at the time, and we wanted to be home. We were like, best case scenario, we go to WWE and things blow up, we’re never going to be home. I was like, I want to see my daughter grow up.”

Prior to joining AEW, Santana and Ortiz had been in the TNA roster for 2 years. They had 4 runs with the Impact Tag Titles as part of the LAX faction during this time.

Mike Santana discussed how WWE has reduced their schedule now as well, but back then, they were running a lot more shows. Another reason to pick AEW for the duo was making history as part of a new promotion:

“Thankfully, things have changed, even now, the schedule is not what it was. But back then it was like we want to see our kids grow up, and also being a part of that legacy.

They were like, Yo, you’re gonna be in the main event of the very first Dynamite. No matter what I do, my name is always gonna be there. So yeah, a big part of that was being a part of something fresh and new, and that the name was always gonna be there.”