Former AEW star wants to face AJ Styles in his retirement tour

A former AEW name has volunteered himself to be one of AJ Style's opponents on the latter's retirement tour. The star in question, Mike Santana, finally won the TNA World Title this past weekend.

AJ Styles made headlines around a week ago when he revealed that he would officially be putting a bow on his legendary career next year. The sports entertainment juggernaut is reportedly intent on making proper plans for The Phenomenal One's retirement in 2026, although no exact creative direction has reportedly been settled upon yet.

News of AJ Styles hanging up his boots this coming year has led to debates among fans on social media as to who some of the former TNA and WWE World Champion's final opponents should be. Ex-AEW star Mike Santana recently took to X/Twitter to throw his own name in the hat for a bid to face the former Bullet Club leader.

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The Nasty Assassin became a part of All Elite Wrestling on the year of the company's foundation, and was a key element of the promotion's fledgling tag team division alongside his former partner, Ortiz. The Proud and Powerful member ended up requesting his release from AEW, however, which was eventually granted, leading to his exit last year. Despite rumors regarding the deterioration of his working relationship with Ortiz, Santana had wrestled and defeated the latter in his final All Elite Wrestling match on an October, 2023 episode of Rampage.

Following his AEW departure, the New York-native returned to TNA, and has become one of the Nashville-based promotion's foremost fan-favorites over the past year. His pursuit of the TNA World Championship finally came to an end last Sunday when he defeated Trick Williams at Bound for Glory 2025.

Santana's recent victory elicited a reaction from an AEW legend

Mike Santana brought the TNA World Championship back home to the promotion last weekend at Bound for Glory. He even survived joint Call Your Shot Gauntlet winners' - Nic Nemeth's and Frankie Kazarian's - individual post-main event attempts at capturing the title from him to end the night on a victorious note.

Santana received congratulatory messages over his recent triumph from across the wrestling world, including a heartfelt comment from former AEW TNT Champion Dustin Rhodes on X/Twitter.

"Proud of you brother❤️" Dustin wrote.

The Natural is currently on the mend from having undergone double knee replacement surgery last August.

About the author

Anurag is an AEW writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling. He holds a BA and MA degree in English along with a TEFL certification to teach English. Before Sportskeeda, he worked as a Content and Correspondence writer at Nayabad Titas, a theater group. He has also worked as a English language tutor.

To ensure complete accuracy, he uses internet resources, social media platforms, and especially pieces composed by his peers to find solid, verified information that he presents as objectively as possible. Thanks to his academic background, he can research different subjects thoroughly.

Anurag's interest in wrestling began as a child. He watched RAW and Smackdown frequently from age 10 or 11 and was officially hooked by the YES Movement story in WWE heading into WrestleMania 30.

As a lifelong wrestling fan and lover of stories, Anurag would read news, articles, and other content about the talent and events he enjoyed watching. His understanding of the business continued to grow with time, and his interest in the art and sport of wrestling led him to pursue a career as a writer.

Apart from writing, he loves to read books, watch movies and television programs, play and listen to music, and write poetry and fiction.

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Edited by Anurag Mukherjee