Former AEW star makes official WWE debut

A former AEW star just made his WWE debut tonight. He is a wrestling veteran.

Mike Santana first made a name for himself in TNA Wrestling, where he wrestled for a couple of years. Following a successful stint in TNA, he moved on to AEW, where he was part of Chris Jericho's Inner Circle stable. Santana was a prominent feature during the early days of All Elite Wrestling. However, as his bookings dwindled, he left the company in 2024 and returned to TNA Wrestling, where he has been a prominent feature as a singles star.

Due to the Stamford-based promotion's partnership with TNA Wrestling, Mike Santana made an appearance at NXT Battlegrounds 2025, where he was interviewed backstage. However, this interview segment was interrupted by the No Quarter Catch Crew. As a result, Santana challenged one of them to a match tonight on NXT.

So, tonight on the black and silver brand, Mike Santana faced off against Tavion Heights in a singles match, thereby making it his official WWE debut after several years of wrestling on the independent scene.

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It will be interesting to see if Tavion Heights will be able to defeat a wrestling veteran like Mike Santana tonight on NXT.

About the author

Sunil is a pro wrestling journalist, covering AEW and WWE news stories at Sportskeeda. He holds an MBA degree in Marketing, and has nearly 7 years of experience. A wrestling aficionado since childhood, Sunil used to imitate his favorite wrestlers as a young kid, and started writing professionally about the sport via Sportskeeda’s revenue-sharing opportunity.

Sunil admires former world champions AJ Styles, Will Ospreay, and Kenny Omega for their ability to consistently deliver great matches as well as entertain crowds with their mic skills.

If ever given a chance to change a storyline, Sunil would have booked Roman Reigns to end The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak instead of Brock Lesnar. According to him, The Tribal Chief needed the victory more than Brock Lesnar, as the latter was already an established performer when he defeated ‘Taker. He would’ve also made that as Taker’s final match.

Always focused on making his work accurate and reliable, Sunil thoroughly checks his facts before writing his articles. When not writing for pro wrestling, he spends his time watching cricket.

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Edited by Angana Roy