Mike Santana revealed he had to choose between AEW and WWE in 2019.
The tag team wrestler left AEW earlier this year, after nearly five years with the company. It came after he separated by Ortiz, and was working singles matches before his exit.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, the former AEW wrestler revealed that he and his tag team partner Ortiz had significant interest from both AEW and WWE after leaving TNA.
He claimed that the pair of them chose AEW because of the schedule. It was easier on the pair’s family, as they both had young children at the time.
“Oh, yeah. When our contracts were coming up with TNA there was interest with AEW and WWE. We had spoken to WWE extensively and they made it very hard for us to turn them down. But our thing was, so Cody was the one who hired us right and we had already before anything we had spoken a while back and we had giving Cody our word before, and our word is everything. So by that point, they asked, Hey, have you signed anything? And we’re like, no but we gave our word and we would like to stick to that.”
“At the time we both had young children and we wanted to see them grow up and the schedule was much easier with AEW. Plus the opportunity to be part of history, be a part of something that was brand new and fresh and be at the ground level. And honestly, like even now, I could honestly say I was part of that legacy and part of that history no matter what. People could always go back to the very first show, the very first main event. My name is there so I’m happy with that.”
Mike Santana Is ‘Very Open’ To Moving To WWE In The Future
Later in the interview, Mike Santana claimed that he’d had some discussion with WWE. The wrestler added that he’s very open in his future, and is happy to go anywhere at this point.
“I’ve had some discussions. I’ve been very open with everybody. Right now is just going where I’m going to be able to grow the most. I don’t want to just be another guy on the roster. I already did that,I want to be part of something, I want to do something special. Thankfully, I’ve been smart with money and I’m not hurting and I’m taking my time with things and you know, I just want to have fun.”