"I was feeling sorry for myself" - AEW star opens up on his battle with depression

An AEW star recently spoke about his challenging battle with depression during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The star in question is none other than Ortiz. He was part of one of the most popular tandems in All Elite Wrestling with Mike Santana, known as Proud & Powerful. However, the two eventually went their separate ways due to personal issues.

In a chat with Isiah Kassidy, Ortiz revealed he gained a lot of weight during the pandemic, which made him feel sorry for himself:

"This was the height of the pandemic. I gained weight. I was just sitting [at] home [for] two or three months, and I was just eating ice cream every night. I gained a lot of weight. I blew up super fast, and at that time, I didn't realize I was depressed. I was still doing and socializing, but my habits had me in a rut, and also, mentally, I was feeling sorry for myself."

The star added that instead of having regrets, he was looking forward to new opportunities:

"One of my biggest regrets was if I had the mentality that I have now, if I was in the type of shape that I was now, I could have taken advantage of those opportunities," Ortiz said. "But, instead of me looking back and looking in that regret, I know I'm going to have further opportunities." [H/T:WrestlingInc]

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AEW star Ortiz claims Mike Santana refused to tag with him due to personal issues

AEW star Ortiz recently discussed why his tag team with Mike Santana disbanded.

On The Shining Wizards podcast, Ortiz opened up about how his real-life rift with Santana was later turned into a storyline in AEW.

"Unfortunately, it wasn’t the company’s call to split us [Santana & Ortiz]. Me and Santana just couldn’t get it together personally and he was just very adamant about not working with me anymore."

He also felt that their storyline was rushed:

"It was supposed to happen more than once. But just due to stuff out of our control, out of my control, it just never seemed to pan out," Ortiz added. [H/T: POST Wrestling]

Proud & Powerful was considered one of the most promising tag teams in professional wrestling. The duo held multiple titles together in numerous promotions. However, as a surprise to many, they have never won tag team gold in AEW.

Do you want to see Santana and Ortiz reunite in All Elite Wrestling? Let us know in the comments section below.