33-year-old responds to rumors of being ignored in AEW

A 33-year-old star has responded to speculations on the subject of being overlooked in AEW.

Mike Santana recently took to X to respond to rumors suggesting he is not being utilized in the Jacksonville-based promotion. Santana, who used to team up with Ortiz as the tag team Proud and Powerful, was one of AEW's earliest signings. The duo also appeared as a member of Chris Jericho's former faction, the Inner Circle.

After being turned on by Jericho and his new faction - the Jericho Appreciation Society - Santana and Ortiz reunited with former LAX stablemate Eddie Kingston. The trio teamed up with the Blackpool Combat Club to face the JAS in an Anarchy in the Arena match at Double or Nothing 2022. The two sides would meet again in a Blood and Guts match a month later on Dynamite. Santana would sustain an injury in the bout, sidelining him for nearly a year.

The reigning HOG World Heavyweight Champion returned to action at All In 2023, joining forces with Ortiz and the BCC against Best Friends, Orange Cassidy, Penta El Zero M, and Eddie Kingston in a losing effort. Since then, Santana began showing interest in pursuing a singles career, but not before defeating his former tag partner Ortiz in a No Disqualification match on Rampage, which developed into a deeply personal rivalry.

In a discourse on X regarding him and other accomplished talents being lost in the shuffle in an overcrowded roster, a user shared a picture of Santana with the Greektown Wrestling Championship, the top belt of the Ontario-based independent promotion, alluding to the wrestler keeping his skills sharp despite his absence from AEW television. Santana responded to the post with a simple two-word caption:

"Im chillen," - Santana posted.

Check out Santana's tweet below:

Santana won the Geektown Wrestling Championship by defeating Channing Decker in October 2023. He retained the title against Decker in a hardcore match in December later that year.

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Santana did not want to work with Ortiz in AEW due to personal issues

According to Ortiz, his former Proud and Powerful tag-team partner Mike Santana refused to work with him in AEW due to personal issues between the two men.

Speaking on The Shining Wizards Podcast, the 32-year-old star revealed that Tony Khan did not decide to split up PNP; instead, it resulted from both men being unable to figure things out between themselves and Santana's unwillingness to work with Ortiz further:

Ortiz shared, "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."

Ortiz also shared the opinion that the story of their breakup was hastily executed as opposed to unfolding over several weeks and across the AEW shows:

"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 insisted. [H/T, POST Wrestling]

Santana has lately focused on building a career in the singles division, appearing in multiple indie promotions, including Geektown Wrestling, HOG, and GCW. Ortiz, on the other hand, teamed up with Eddie Kingston in a tag match against Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli of the Blackpool Combat Club on the January 20 episode of Collision.

Will Santana and Ortiz ever reunite to go after the AEW Tag Team Championships? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!