Mike Santana Addresses AEW's Handling Of Ortiz Feud
Santana responds to fan frustration at how his rivalry with Ortiz was handled.
We recently had the pleasure to grab some time with TNA's Mike Santana to discuss a whole variety of topics ahead of Against All Odds next weekend. And one such topic that came up, was how the rivalry between Santana and Ortiz was handled once the long-time team went their separate ways in AEW.
Having teamed together for over a decade, first on the independent scene, then in TNA, then in AEW, and from EYFBO, to LAX, to Pride-N-Powerful, the break-up of the tandem culminated in a few weeks of promos and one solitary match. While that in itself was disappointing for fans - given how the storied history between the two could've made for a much longer, deeper rivalry - adding to the frustration of many was that the feud was relegated to Rampage rather than featured on the company's Dynamite flagship or make it to PPV.
When asked about those fan frustrations and his own thoughts on how this was all handled, Santana shrugged and said "[it's] not my show", before adding how this would've "rattled" his brain at previous points in his career.
As Santana explained:
"I’m thankful that I’ve gotten to a point in my life and my career, where I’d say a couple of years back that would’ve, you know, rattled my brain. Like you said, so much history, all this stuff and whatever, but then it’s like, ‘Alright, cool, then let’s get it over with so that I can start on my new journey and keep it pushing’. That’s exactly how I looked at it. We had a good couple-of-week build-up, we had that good match, we let out what we needed to let out, and it was over after that. I wished him the best. For me, it was no hard feelings, no nothing. It was the end of a chapter, the beginning of a new one. That was it for me."
Mike Santana officially departed AEW in March, although his last match for the promotion was back in October of last year, which was the Rampage match against Ortiz - that being a No DQ contest that Santana won.
April saw Santana make his return to TNA, answering Steve Maclin's open challenge at the Rebellion PPV. At present, Satana and Maclin seem destined to do something with The Rascalz at next weekend's Against All Odds show, although it remains to be seen how things play out on tonight's episode of Impact.
Away from AEW and TNA, the 33-year-old New Yorker has been extremely busy on the independent scene for the past several months, most notably reigning as the House of Glory World Champion. In HOG, Santana has put on some absolute wars with the likes of Josh Alexander, Penta El Zero Miedo, Psycho Clown, Alex Shelley, and Matt Riddle, and he defends the HOG World Title against HOG founder Amazing Red at this weekend's big Puerto Rican Weekend event that the promotion is running.
Be sure to keep an eye on WhatCulture Wrestling for our full interview with Mike Santana, with other topics of discussion being why he returned to TNA, his focus as a singles wrestler, the NXT-TNA relationship, previous talks with WWE, and the highs and lows of his time with AEW.