In the early days after AEW's founding, the tag team division took the spotlight. The young promotion's focus on tandem wrestling drew rave reviews from fans, but an oft-mentioned regret is that the duo of Santana and Ortiz – known in AEW as Proud N Powerful – never won the tag titles.
Santana and Ortiz were recruited by Chris Jericho to be members of the Inner Circle, one of All Elite Wrestling's earliest heel stables. The two put on acclaimed matches against The Young Bucks, Jurassic Express, and Private Party, but they never managed to get their hands on the gold.
According to Mike Santana, there was apparently a plan in place for them to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship in late 2019. Speaking to Chris Van Vliet on Insight, the former All Elite star revealed that they were being set up to face inaugural champions SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky).
"It was right before the pandemic. We were feuding with the [Young] Bucks; we were ending our feud with the Bucks, and they both told us, they were like, ‘Hey, after this, you’re gonna go and start working a program with Frankie [Kazarian] and Scorp [Scorpio Sky].’ At the time, they were still champs. 'And then you guys are gonna grab the belts from them’ and whatever," said Santana. [23:21 - 23:43]
Unfortunately, a real-life tragedy derailed the plans, as Santana revealed that he had to leave for a couple of weeks due to his father passing away.
"So that was the week of New Year’s Eve [2019] and then we were supposed to have a match New Year’s Day and then start the program with them. We were gonna go into some promos and then that morning, I woke up and got the call that my dad passed away. So I had to leave. So I left, and then I was gone for two weeks, and in those two weeks, everything changed, and then that was it." [23:45 - 24:14]
Former AEW star Mike Santana on the importance of fighting for a bigger spotlight
Santana recently departed AEW amid reports of his dissatisfaction with his booking. The 33-year-old broke up with his longtime tag team partner, Ortiz, as well, with the two reportedly having a real-life falling out.
The former Inner Circle member is betting on himself in free agency, and he told Chris Van Vliet in the same interview that not being able to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship validated his desire to fight for himself:
"The reason I was given [for not winning the titles] was that there was too many other people fighting for that spot, and that p*ssed me off more than anything. And I understand that when you get to a certain level in this business, if you don't fight for yourself and you don't advocate for yourself, you ain't getting nowhere. And that was a big part of my fight within my team. And when I heard that, it just validated everything." [22:16 - 23:07]
For now, Santana has put his struggles in AEW behind him and returned to the independent scene. Some have questioned whether he'll head to Japan or try to join WWE, but only time will tell what the 33-year-old's next step is.
When using quotes from this article, please credit Insight and give an h/t to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription
