Why Santana & Ortiz Rejected WWE For AEW
Proud and Powerful on their decision to choose AEW over WWE.
Santana and Ortiz's recent appearance on the AEW Unrestricted podcast saw the duo touch on all kinds of topics relating to their or wrestling careers, including the decision to choose AEW over WWE.
The Inner Circle tandem stated that they had offers on the table from both promotions upon departing IMPACT Wrestling in 2019. Being part of Chris Jericho's group as part of that, with Santana and Ortiz saying they took influence from the veteran's first book (h/t WrestlingNews.co for the transcription):-
“That was one of the deciding factors for us coming into the company because right before we went in, we had offers to go to WWE or AEW. We were on the fence initially, but one of the swaying decisions for us was Chris specifically wanted us to be a part of The Inner Circle. We were like, wow. He’s a huge part of our bonding experience. When we started becoming a tag team, we both read Jericho’s first book, ‘A Lion’s Tale’, so we were like this is the blueprint to be a wrestler. This is it right here. He was a journeyman. He wrestled everywhere. This is what we want to do. Watching guys like him, Dean, Eddie, we wanted to be true journeymen."
The duo went on, expanding on what became a surreal situation for them:-
"We bonded over his first book, so fast forward to us hearing Cody saying Chris wants us to be in this stable, we were like, ‘What? What’s going on right now.’ It was just one of those real weird, full circle moments where we were like, we bonded over his first book, and now we are a part of his journey, and a part of his legacy. We will be tied into his career. It’s crazy when you look at it that we grew up watching him and all of these guys. This whole experience the past two years has been insane. With everything that’s gone on personally in my life, with everything professionally, the whole pandemic, it’s just been crazy insane.”
Santana and Ortiz remain with The Inner Circle to this day, though the group has had a tough time as of late. Though Proud and Powerful still have a rematch with FTR in the chamber, Jericho lost to former protege MJF on last week's Dynamite, concluding their lengthy feud.