Mike Santana Talks About The Improvements He's Made Since Leaving AEW

After making his last AEW appearance in 2023, Mike Santana announced earlier this year that he would be leaving the promotion. Since then, Santana has been hard at work wrestling, promoting himself, and staying in excellent shape. Appearing on "Busted Open Radio," Santana responded to compliments about his physique, stating that it was a conscious decision to work on himself.

"When I was out with my injury and dealing with all my personal stuff, I told myself that if I'm gonna come back to the sport, I'm gonna come back looking better than ever [and] being better than ever," Santana said. "I always say if you're gonna go away, do something with that time, you know what I mean? Especially if this is ... your career, this is your passion. For me, this is everything."

Santana was an original member of the AEW roster, joining up with Chris Jericho to form the Inner Circle on the very first episode of "AEW Dynamite." Over time, however, Santana became dissatisfied with his place on the roster, creating friction between himself and longtime tag partner Ortiz. After suffering an injury that kept him out of the ring for about a year, Santana returned in 2023, wrestling at AEW All In before a brief feud with Ortiz.

"I formulated a whole plan of attack," Santana said regarding his comeback. "I got a lot of things in order and I pretty much made a timeline of things that I wanted to do and things that I wanted to accomplish, so that when I got back in the game, I was ready and set to go."

After his match against Ortiz, Santana began working independent dates until officially departing AEW in March. The wrestler has now returned to his former home of TNA Wrestling along with his independent schedule.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.