Mike Santana, former All Elite Wrestling star and current Total Nonstop Action world champion, is the subject of some online chatter this week, as various wrestling media outlets, including The Wrestling Observer and Fightful Select, reported that he might be on the radar of WWE in just a few weeks.
According to reports, the Puerto Rican grappler’s TNA deal is set to expire next month, noting that he is slated to defend the world title at the Slammiversary pay-per-view on June 28th in Boston. That could theoretically be the place for him to drop the championship if he plans to test the waters of free agency. It was also mentioned that the belief is that WWE management would move him directly to the main roster as opposed to starting in the NXT developmental system.
All things considered, it’s the right move for Santana to at least explore his options. He’s at the highest point of his career at the moment so it only makes sense for him to try to maximize his value as a performer. Along the same lines, it’s also logical for the WWE to look into the possibility of bringing him into the fold of the organization. As we know, TKO continues to look for ways to globalize the product, and with the myriad of recent retirements, the reality is, the next generation of stars will have to be ready to carry the brand sooner rather than later. That doesn’t mean that Mike Santana is automatically going to be the guy that will be pushed to the main event of Wrestlemania, but rather to point out that as others are moved up the card, there will be spots on the roster that will need to be taken by quality performers to be able to maintain depth within each brand.
That’s why it makes sense for the office to consider offering Santana a deal, as he already has several years of television experience and he’s a polished pro that could reasonably be expected to start on either of the main brands without a learning curve. Of course, developmental projects are a part of the WWE system, there’s an entire Performance Center in Orlando, and the NXT brand itself to serve that purpose, but again, when it comes to main stream WWE productions, especially in the modern era when there are countless entertainment options, the value of experienced talent is still a premium.
In many ways, regardless of if the Puerto Rican star ends up in the WWE or not, he’s already a success story. We’ve discussed the scenario countless times that specific talents were lost in the shuffle in All Elite Wrestling and had to go elsewhere to rejuvenate their careers. Ricky Starks, Penta, and others are examples of that. That’s not necessarily a jab at Tony Khan either, it’s probably unavoidable that some talent will get lost with such a bloated roster But, the fact remains that some of the talent that Tony missed the boat on, even unintentionally, have found bigger success in other organizations. That’s not a total negative, either. One of the many reasons that the industry needs competition is that it allows more stars to reach their full potential under different banners.
Santana is a good example of that. As we know, he had a stint in Impact Wrestling when the promotion was under Anthem management, but was still on shaky ground before he was one of the originals to be featured on AEW programming when Dynamite launched in late-2019 as a member of Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle. It looked as though it was rather easy to see that Santana and Ortiz as a tag team were going to be fixtures of the promotion based on the early days of its existence, but as the narrative around All Elite shifted in the few years that followed with backstage disagreements making more headlines than the actual product, the Proud and Powerful tag team faded into the background for several months. Santana suffered an ACL tear during the Blood and Guts match in 2022, which sidelined him for more than a year. During his time on the shelf, it was revealed online that Santana and Ortiz had real-life disputes and the team was disbanded.
Mike Santana left All Elite Wrestling in early-2024 and signed with TNA that April. Considering that it was more or less “out of sight, out of mind” because he had been off the radar for so long between the extended recovery time from the leg injury and then lack of exposure on AEW programming, it’s fair to say that Santana overachieved during his TNA tenure over the past two years. Not only did he rejuvenate his career, but he took it to the next level, as his crowd work and real-life story made him a baby face that the crowd rallied behind as a main event star for the organization. He had a significantly higher ceiling in TNA than he did in AEW. If that was because he was underused in AEW, or TNA is simply a smaller pond depends on perspective. The point is that within the past two years, Mike Santana boosted his value as a talent so it might make sense for him to make the jump to WWE if given the chance.
If Santana actually departs TNA after his contract expires next month, the move to WWE would be the only one that would make sense. If he doesn’t plan to go to WWE or doesn’t get an offer, he’d be better to stay in TNA, mostly because he would probably find himself in the same position that he worked to elevate himself from if he returned to AEW. At 35, Santana theoretically has several years left of his prime, and with the previously mentioned years of television experience, if he was going to sign a deal with WWE, now would be the time to do it. It’s tough to gauge where he might end up within the WWE system, as there are some many moving parts and different dynamics within the publicly-traded, global corporation, but if I had to guess, I’d say that he would find at the very least a solid level of success there. As I said, TKO continues to look to expand its international footprint, and we’ve seen how much of a premium there is on Hispanic talent, especially with the purchase of AAA.
That being said, the other side of the coin is, where does this leave TNA?
There’s no doubt that Total Nonstop Action benefited from the working relationship with NXT. Of course, it also helped the WWE since it will help to prevent any other anti-trust lawsuits after the promotion had to pay Major League Wrestling $20 million a few years ago. The AMC debut at the start of the year gave TNA its best television deal in more than a decade since it was canceled from Spike TV in 2014 after network executives found out that Vince Russo was still secretly working for the company. That new TV deal and the exposure that goes along with it doesn’t happen without the WWE working agreement. However, and this is the difficult balancing act, TNA will still have to stand on its own as far as a drawing commodity if it wants to have any longevity on a truly national stage again. That’s not to say that TNA can’t continue to work with NXT, but rather to point out that if they mostly function as a feeder system for WWE where the bigger group continuously get to cherry-pick the best talent, then TNA will be a minor league group, not a national promotion. As we know, Joe Hendry made the leap to WWE and probably settled into a position on the card that makes sense for him. But, with Mike Santana, another TNA world champion, potentially next to make the move, does the almost reinforce the notion that TNA is a funnel for talent to WWE rather than a promotion that stands on its own merit?
I’m not sure of the answer, but I will say that TNA is at least in danger of being typecast as a minor league feeder system. Another aspect that adds some credibility to that notion is the recent report that Steve Maclin, a former world champion, was granted his release from the company, expressing frustration with the structure of the organization. If Maclin thinks he can be a bigger star elsewhere, it makes sense for him to try to accomplish that, especially if he thinks that he was stagnant in TNA. The bigger picture, and maybe the biggest take away from the Mike Santana speculation, is that how the situation unfolds within the next few months might impact the narrative of TNA as an organization, specifically if it’s a destination for talent to progress there careers or if it’s viewed as bridge to get elsewhere.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
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