Mike Santana Says Slammiversary Fan Passion Proved That His Strategy Was Working, ‘It Was Meaningful To Have So Many People Backing Me’

Mike Santana reflects on TNA Slammiversary.

The event was headlined by a three way contest that featured Trick Williams defending his TNA World Championship against Joe Hendry and Mike Santana. Many fans viewed this as the right moment to crown Santana as the new champion and face of the company.

In the end, Williams retained his title, upsetting tons of fans in the process. Speaking with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp for a new interview, Santana spoke about the moment and how he felt that it proved his strategy was successful.

“Very meaningful. Honestly, I think Slammiversary was the moment that really proved, alright, I’m on that road. What I’m doing is working. Fans from everywhere were pissed off and very passionate and very vocal about it. Even some of my family was leaving the building, the UBS Arena, and they told me in the parking lot, it was like madness. I was like, ‘Man, I wish I would have had footage of that.’ But yeah, man, it was meaningful to have so many people backing me. I feel like Slammiversary and having that moment stolen from me just got people behind me even more and they continue following the journey. I feel like it’s the same thing now. I think a lot of people are invested in me and what I’ve been doing and my story that I’ve been telling. It means a lot, man, because I took this huge gamble on myself and I decided to leave something that was very established and very comfortable and something that I could have had for years and years to come. But I knew that I was destined for more and I knew the work I was going to, I was willing to put in for more. Here I am doing exactly that.”

Santana went on to reveal that he wasn’t expecting his singles career to flourish so quickly after his career reset moment.

“I’ll tell you the truth. I didn’t expect it to happen this soon. So I put a plan together for myself before I even came back into wrestling. I set some goals. I made a plan of how I was going to execute this whole journey of mine. But I didn’t put a timetable on it. I was like, ‘It could take two years, five years, 10 years, whatever it is.’ But I’m going to work and I’ll let the work talk for itself. I know the last couple of years it was balls to the wall. It was nonstop and I knew that’s exactly what needed to be done. Honestly I was just nose to the ground and keep working and thankfully it paid off way quicker than what I thought. But I’m thankful, man. It’s just a testament to the hard work that I’ve been putting in and again the fans are behind me, so I’m thankful.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Mike Santana talked about Bear Bronson and his current stint with TNA. Check out his full comments on the matter by clicking here.

Fans can check out Mike Santana’s full interview with Fightful in the video linked at the top of this article. After that, head over to our YouTube channel to check out more of our interviews with top talent in the world of wrestling.