Major Free Agent Signs With TNA Wrestling

In an extremely smart piece of business, TNA has landed this major free agent.

Mike Santana
TNA Wrestling

Having appeared at TNA Rebellion last weekend, Mike Santana has now officially signed with TNA Wrestling.

TNA broke the news of Santana rejoining the Anthem promotion, with a company statement making it clear that the former LAX man is gunning for singles gold.

Santana became a free agent after parting ways with AEW towards the end of February, with the talent having been unhappy with how his time with the Tony Khan-led promotion played out. The 33-year-old and his long-term tag team partner Ortiz had butted heads as far back as 2022, with reports claiming Santana felt Pride-N-Powerful were being underutilised, while Ortiz was said to be fine with the spot the pair was in.

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Of course, Mike Santana spent over a year on the shelf due to a torn ACL, returning to AEW action at All In last August. That was followed by a feud against Ortiz that was unfortunately dumped on the barely-watched AEW Rampage, and the blow-off to their feud in October was Santana's final match for the promotion.

Since leaving AEW, Santana has remained active on the independent scene, currently reigning as the House of Glory World Champion. Following his appearance at TNA Rebellion - where he won an impromptu match against Steve Maclin - Santana was in action at TNA's post-PPV round of TV tapings, with him facing Myron Reed in a bout that will air on tonight's iMPACT.

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Prior to signing with TNA - where he and Ortiz previously had a run from 2017 to 2019 - Mike Santana was said to have had interest from WWE. Regardless of where he landed post-AEW, the sky is the limit for Santana as a singles star, with his ring work, charisma, presence, and promo work rounding him out as a fantastic 'get' for TNA.

 
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Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.