AEW Star Explains Why He Chose The Company Over WWE

WWE/AEW

AEW star Ortiz has explained why he and Santana decided to choose All Elite Wrestling over WWE when they were free agents.

In 2019, Santana and Ortiz became one of the most sought after tag teams when their deals with IMPACT Wrestling expired and they became free agents.

The former LAX eventually decided on signing with All Elite Wrestling where they were quickly aligned with Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara and Jake Hager in the Inner Circle stable. Despite this hot start with AEW, the decision to sign with the promotion wasn’t an easy one for the duo.

Speaking with the Shining Wizards Wrestling podcast, Ortiz revealed that there were various options on the table for him and Santana at first. On AEW’s scheduling being a deciding factor, Ortiz said:

“Impact definitely wanted to keep us,”

“WWE was an option at that time. It really went back and forth with us and it made our decision really hard. They made it very appealing and we would’ve gone over for ‘NXT.'”

“They were making it really appealing and hard for us to actually choose AEW. Ultimately, we went with AEW just because the schedule was a huge factor being that we would be at home more with our families.”

“We’d be able to raise our children and have more of a hand in that. We were thinking best case scenario.”

“Lets say we’d bust our a** and take off and make it to the main roster in WWE. We’d probably never be home.”

Ortiz also revealed why he and Santana broke up as a tag team in AEW, which you can read here.

Transcription via Wrestling Inc.

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• Ortiz
• Santana
• AEW
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