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During the early days of AEW, Chris Jericho led a faction called The Inner Circle. Apart from the reigning ROH World Champion, this group consisted of Jake Hager, Santana, Ortiz, Sammy Guevara, and more.
The Inner Circle disbanded in March of 2022. Eventually, Santana left the company in 2024. The 33-year-old is currently signed to TNA and has been having a quite good run with the promotion so far. He was in AEW from 2019 to 2024. Recently, he opened up about his experience working for the Tony Khan-led promotion.
In an interview with Tim Hann Rivera, Santana revealed that he didn't feel like his career was progressing in the promotion. Furthermore, he stated that he and many others like him were not getting the opportunity to showcase their talents:
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"If you're not progressing in this business, then you're dying. And that's with anything, any job. If you're not working to get a higher position or to progress in any way, then what are we doing here? And I've always said that my biggest thing was that I want to grow. I've always lived my life and every aspect where I'm chasing what's next. 'How are we going to grow? How are we going to continue building?' And it got to a point where it was like that wasn't happening, and we weren't getting those opportunities. And I just wasn't feeling that," said the former AEW star. [H/T: Wrestling Inc.]
A top AEW star just called one of his colleagues 'spoiled' and 'narcissistic' HERE.
According to former AEW star Mike Santana, every wrestler's dream is to get signed by WWE
In the same interview mentioned above, Santana said that his dream was to become a WWE Superstar. In addition, he stated that every wrestler's goal is to wrestle for the Stamford-based promotion:
"But again, everyone's ultimate goal is to go to WWE. That's the top, right? We'll see. We'll see how life presents itself and how things go, man, but I never leave any door closed. That's one thing that you always learn in life, in general, you don't burn bridges, you don't leave doors closed. I think it would be pretty cool." said Santana. [H/T: Fightful]
Santana is the current holder of the HOG World Heavyweight Championship. He is also a four-time TNA World Tag Team Champion.
