Mike Santana talks interest from WWE in 2019.
In 2019, Santana and Ortiz were one of the hottest tag teams in the world, especially during the later part of the summer, as the duo became free agents.
Only weeks later, the tag team debuted for All Elite Wrestling at the All Out pay-per-view, attacking the Lucha Bros and the Young Bucks after their tag team ladder match.
While speaking to Chris Van Vliet for a new interview, Santana talked about how there was interest from WWE at this time and how it was hard to turn them down.
“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, Cody was the one who hired us right. Before anything, we had spoke [to him] a while back and we had given Cody our word. Our word is everything. By that point, they asked, ‘Hey, have you signed anything?’ We’re like, ‘No, but we gave our word and we would like to stick to that.’ At that 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 a part of history and be a part of something that was brand new and fresh and at the ground level. Honestly, like now, I can say that I was a part of that legacy. No matter what, people can always go back, very first [Dynamite], very first main event, my name is there. I’m happy with that.”
Santana went on to reveal that WWE was even going to allow him to stay in New York and not make him move to Orlando.
“No, they actually said you can stay in New York. They were like, we’ll pay you this, you can stay in New York. They were making it very very hard. But I’m a man of my word. Yeah, they were like, ‘You’ll start with NXT and you’ll do a few months there and see you how develop and get you used to our system and stuff.’ They were like, ‘We don’t see you being in NXT for more than a year.’ We knew that if we got called up, we’d never see our kids. Family is everything for me, at least for me. I wanted to see my daughter grow up.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Santana was asked about the possibility of signing with WWE now that he's a free agent. Fans can learn more here.
Fightful will continue to update fans on Santana and his future in the wrestling industry.
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