Former AEW Star Explains ‘Very Dark Time’ Prior To Departure

AEW

Former AEW star Mike Santana has explained a “very dark time” prior to his departure from the promotion earlier this year.

Following AEW Revolution 2024, Mike Santana was removed from All Elite Wrestling’s roster page. It was later announced that the former Inner Circle member was finishing up with the company.

In a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, the former AEW star was asked about leaving the promotion. Santana answered:

“Like I was telling you, my decision to leave AEW came well before my injury.”

“I got hurt in June of 2022 and at that point, I was just dealing with so much in my life personally and professionally at work, and I was just burnt out. My contract was coming up in September, I believe.”

“And I had already made the decision that I’m not going to re-sign, and I just needed to take a break and deal with the things that I needed to deal with.”

“And yeah, so then the injury happened. So, a lot of that was going on during that time.”

On whether AEW wanted to re-sign him prior to his exit, Santana said:

“I’m not sure. But I wasn’t really actively pursuing it, the time was coming up. Like I said, it was June when I got hurt. Our contract was up August I think it.”

“And I wasn’t really like actively pursuing [and saying] ‘Oh, are you guys going to re-sign us?’ Because already in my head, I was like, Yeah, I need to get away. I need to take a break.”

“But I’m sure something would have worked out and they probably would have re-signed us. But yeah, man. During that time, it was a very dark time for me.”

Mike Santana also addressed his split from his former tag team partner Ortiz, which you can read here.

Santana is currently working on the independent wrestling scene where he is the reigning House of Glory World Champion.

Transcription via 411Mania

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• Mike Santana
• departure
• AEW

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