Mike Santana Wants To Be The Next TNA Champion, NXT Debut, Slammiversary, Shawn Michaels, Sobriety

Mike Santana (@Santana_Proud) is a professional wrestler currently signed to TNA. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in New York City to discuss his TNA return and how quickly it came together, not winning the World Championship at Slammiversary and speaking to the fans after, his WWE debut in NXT, getting to work with Shawn Michaels, his ultimate dream match, battling addiction, how close he came to signing with WWE back in 2019 and more!

Quote I'm thinking about: “Taking responsibility means never blaming anyone else for anything you are being, doing, having, or feeling.” – Susan Jeffers

On returning to TNA:

"So I guess a little insider. The last time we spoke and did the show, I think I told you I was already in talks with people and stuff. So it came together pretty quickly. You know, everything happened so fast. We did the sit-down in early April, and three weeks later, I showed up at Rebellion. So everything happened super quick, and I knew it was a place that I wanted to be and where I needed to be."

On no longer being a part of a tag team:

"We did great things. The fact that today people still talk about the things that we did and what we accomplished and stuff is a huge deal to me. I was talking with a few people, and they were like, 'Do you get upset when people bring it up?' And I'm like, why would I get upset? That's part of my legacy, that's part of my career. We did amazing things, and now I'm going to continue doing amazing things."

Did you feel like things were getting stale as a tag team or were you hungry for more?

"I was hungry for more. Sometimes when you are part of a team, and we have spoken about this before, as you grow, and as you start to become different individuals, you start to develop different mindsets and different ways of thinking. I think that was the overall thing. I like to continue growing, I like to challenge myself. As I have said before, in this business, if you are not growing, you're dying. So that's what I needed to do."

You could have stayed in AEW is what you are saying?

"I could have, yeah. I care and I love this too much to just, I don't know, man. I just couldn't sit on my ass. I could not do it. That was honestly, that whole situation, and that whole time period was a big contributor to my addiction issues too, because I was just so unhappy. I didn't know how to communicate that very well, because I was angry. And like they say, you can't react off of emotion, and that was the only way I was gonna react. So me not knowing how to communicate that is what made me, I guess, drown into myself."

So you were looking for an escape?

"100%."

What were you escaping from?

"Everything. Unhappiness, the pain I was dealing with losing my dad, the pain of being unhappy in my personal life, and there was just a lot of things going on at the time, everything was a contributing factor. But I'm thankful that I'm at a point now in my life where, you know, because I think I mentioned this before, I never did drugs and alcohol for fun. It wasn't fun for me. I did it to escape. I did it to fill a void, and I'm thankful that I got to a point in my life where there's no more running. I stopped running."

Was it every day?

"Every day. Yeah, I hated what I was feeling, and it was just an endless thing."

On asking for his release in AEW:

"Yeah, more than once."

What was the response?

"It was always, 'We'll figure it out.' At that time, I was like, I'm going to continue doing the Indies and doing what I got to do to continue building myself and staying busy. I made it very clear when I came back that I wasn't going to come back into a situation that I was in before, and that got me to where I was. As an addict, I put my sobriety first before anything, so I'm not gonna go into a situation that is going to compromise that. So I was like, Listen, I gotta do what I gotta do for me."

On the main event of Slammiversary:

"What a moment. Just that whole lead-up and just the day in general, it was special. It was special. I said it after we went off the air, I got on the mic a little bit, because the crowd was just like [unhappy]. I was like, there's a riot rumbling in here, so let me calm them down a little bit. I told them that I wrestled in that building twice before in a throwaway match, like four or five minutes or whatever. And I was like, it's crazy. I went from the throwaway to the main event. I went from undesirable to undeniable, and what a journey it's been. It was like a like, one of those full circle moments of, if you believe in yourself, you make anything possible.

To have my family there and my daughter there, it was special. The way the city came out, and the way that crowd just reacted, and it was one of those things. I'll be honest, I remember the fear that I felt when I finally got my release, and it was like, it's over, right? Because you can hope and wish all you want, nothing is guaranteed. I had a plan for myself. I didn't put a timetable on the plan. I was like, this is the plan. This is the plan that I'm gonna follow, whether it takes two years, five years, whatever it is, I gotta do what I gotta do. But I remember in the back of my head, I just prayed that I could continue giving my daughter the life that she has and making sure that she's comfortable, and we don't have to struggle. So there was a lot of that, right? It could work, it could not, but that fear is what made me say, I have to do it. Real quick story, my grandmother, God bless her, she had the opportunity back in like the early 90s, late 80s to buy a piece of property in the Lower East Side. And because of her situation, it was kind of unstable. She had a fear of not being able to afford it, and she had three kids to take care of, and all these things, so she ended up not buying it. That property today is worth like $4 million. I remember her telling me that story, and I was like, I will never allow fear to stop me from anything."

On his first day out of rehab:

"It was the scariest thing in my life. Because in rehab, you're protected. You have this routine. You're protected, you're in a safe place, everything is right there for you. When you leave, it's on you now, the world is open, it's up to you. I remember three days before leaving, I had an anxiety attack in my room by myself, and I was just like, Oh my God. What if I can't do it? But again, the fear is what was like, I have to do it. Because I knew if I went back, it's a wrap. I know, I'm very conscious of what that first drink will do to me. It's a wrap after that. Ain't no coming back."

On envisioning winning the TNA World Championship:

"It looks like me presenting that belt to my daughter. Because, again, that's a thank you. I know I'm very conscious of I show her so much love. But I want years from now, when she looks back on all this, and she shows her children, I want them to all understand how much love I had for them and how much she impacted me."

On his Eddie Guerrero tribute entrance at TNA Sacrifice:

"It happened pretty quick, actually. I was down there the week before, doing a media tour, and the person who helps run the El Paso arena. We all went to the arena, we were looking around or whatever, and also shout out, Tessa Blanchard. She hit me up. She was like, 'Yo, they got a low rider.' And I was like, oh, that sounds interesting. So one day we go to the arena, we're talking to the guy, and he's like, 'Yeah, we could do different things in here. There's a big entrance here.' And I was like, 'Yo, let's go with a low rider.' He's like, we can make anything happen. I was like, 'Don't tell me that.' He's like, 'Yo, for real.' And he gets on the phone right there in front of me. He's like, 'You have one? All right, send me pictures or whatever.' And right there, instantly. I was like, I guess we're doing this. And what a tribute too. Like you said, that city, so much wrestling history and Eddie carried that scene on his back, you know. So to be able to do that was very special, especially in the building that his family helped build, pretty much. So it was special."

On hearing he would be on NXT:

"I think at first, I was just in that work mode. All right, it's another day in the office, I'm thankful that I'm getting the opportunity in the trust to represent TNA and go over there and do something cool. And also, I know that they're not just going to bring anybody. So this has to be something special. But all that didn't really hit me till later. I was just looking at it. All right, another day at work, let's get to work, you know? And then afterwards is when everything hit me. And I was just like, Wow. All right, we're on to something good here."

On getting to work with Shawn Michaels in NXT:

"Again, I've been doing this a long time, and I've had the privilege of working with a lot of people, and working with people that I grew up watching, I used to play with their action figures. So it was another one of those oh man, this is cool. Then after my first match, going to him and getting pointers at feedback, I was like, damn, this is Shawn Michaels giving me feedback and stuff like that, which was really cool. But again a lot of these moments are very special and cool. But I guess now also a big thing for me is I look at this as a business now. That's another big difference from before to now. Before I was so lin the mindset of I'm living the dream, and I'm doing all this, and I'm doing all that. I made my dreams come true already, let's get to work. So my mindset has shifted in that aspect."

On his ultimate dream match:

"AJ Styles. Just especially being put in this position in TNA as being that new guy and the new face, and they call me The Standard and stuff like that. I think it'd be amazing. Of course, there's other people that I love to work with over there, and I have a lot of people that I know and that I came up on the indies with over there. But to me, AJ is the guy."

On how close him and Ortiz came to signing with WWE in 2019:

"So we did the first Jericho cruise. That was the first time that we met The Bucks and Cody and the whole Elite and stuff. So we got to work with the Bucks and had a great match, which probably will never see the light of day, but that was our first initial interaction with them and meeting them and getting to chat or whatever. The AEW thing wasn't a thing yet. So we just continued doing our thing in TNA. And then Cody and I always stayed in touch. We exchanged numbers. We all stayed in touch or whatever. I remember we started hearing the rumblings of the AEW, and they could be starting a new promotion, and all this stuff. So it was a very interesting time. Then I remember being in the movie theater, I forgot what movie I was watching, I was with my daughter, and I got a text from Cody. You know you're in the movie theater, and then a text comes in, you look down, and your eyesight is trying to adjust. So I look and I see Cody [has messaged me], I'm like, Oh, damn, what's going on? Such a Cody text, by the way, I open my phone, and it goes, ‘It's real. It's happening. When is your contract up?’ So then we chatted a little bit and I gave him my word, and that was that. That to me, is everything. So that was a big component. Even when we were having the talks with WWE, I remember we were sitting in a parking lot in Puerto Rico, where we finally decided and we were going to tell WWE, hey, we're gonna go do this other thing. The main thing that we said is, listen, we gave them our word."

When was your contract up?

"August 2019."

On WWE’s reaction:

"They understood, they respected it. They understood. A big thing with that was the schedule. We both had young kids at the time, and we wanted to be home. We were like, best case scenario, we go to WWE and things blow up, we're never going to be home. I was like, I want to see my daughter grow up. Thankfully, things have changed, even now, the schedule is not what it was. But back then it was like we want to see our kids grow up, and also being a part of that legacy. They were like, Yo, you're gonna be in the main event of the very first Dynamite. No matter what I do, my name is always gonna be there. So yeah, a big part of that was being a part of something fresh and new, and that the name was always gonna be there."

On him and Ortiz wanting the best for each other:

"Absolutely. At the end of the day, he's a dad, he has a family, and I want him to be able to continue supporting and taking care of his family, however that looks. I wish him well with whatever he does and whatever he is continuing to do and yeah, I don't carry anything anymore. I don't hold on to anything anymore. I have this thing where I remember in rehab, the group leaders would always say, like, Yo, when you get clean and you finally start living that life, you're gonna start feeling this serenity, this freeness, and that's how I feel every day, I don't hold on to anything."

What is Mike Santana grateful for?

"God, my family and that I have serenity."

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