18-time champion slams Tony Khan's booking following AEW exit: "It felt like we were in a hamster wheel"

An 18-time champion recently left the Tony Khan-led AEW. Following his departure from the company, he slammed the promotion's creative team.

The star being discussed here is Mike Santana. He joined All Elite Wrestling in August 2019 and left the promotion in March this year. In his pro wrestling career, Santana has won 18 titles, including the HOG World Heavyweight Championship and the IMPACT World Tag Team Championship.

On a recent edition of the Busted Open podcast, Santana said AEW's creative team, led by Tony Khan, booked him in repetitive storylines. While the 33-year-old felt he was in a good spot in the promotion, he couldn't reach his full potential due to monotonous booking.

“It felt like we were in a hamster wheel just doing the same thing; the same thing that we were doing since coming in. And it was like, 'Okay, this is cool stuff, it – you know – we were in a pretty decent spot, but it’s like, all right, what’s next? (…) We have a timetable. We have a timeline for how long we can do this and it’s up to us to take full advantage of the years that we have, you know?” [H/T: ewrestlingnews.com]

Santana gained popularity in AEW for his work as a tag team wrestler alongside Ortiz. The duo was collectively known as Proud and Powerful.

---

Mike Santana was planning his AEW exit a year in advance

In a past interview with Fightful, Mike Santana admitted being very unhappy and dissatisfied with the Jacksonville-based promotion. During the chat, the former champion said he was planning to leave the Tony Khan-led promotion since last year.

Santana also disclosed that he was dropping hints of his AEW exit by posting countdowns on X/Twitter.

Mike Santana had a stellar run in the Tony Khan-led company as part of Chris Jericho's Inner Circle faction. The former champion's popularity seemingly took a hit when the stable disbanded. After leaving All Elite Wrestling, he returned to TNA Wrestling at Rebellion on April 20, 2024.