TNA Champ Mike Santana Reflects On Sobriety Journey

TNA World Champion Mike Santana managed to bring the title home after defeating Trick Williams at this year's Bound for Glory pay-per-view, finally overcoming the "WWE NXT" star. Outside of wrestling, Santana has had to face several other uphill battles in his life, specifically addiction, which he recently opened up about during an interview on the "Rich Eisen Show."

"I was struggling with addiction for, I'd say, three [or] four years; it got real bad when my dad passed away in 2020," Santana admitted. "That's when a whirlwind just hit me, you know what I mean? All the things that I ran from and I didn't deal with growing up? Everything just – it was the soda bottle popping off." He further expressed that struggles at work and in his personal life were more than he could deal with, setting him off on a dark path.

"The holidays were coming up. It was 2023, it was December, and my daughter always wrote Santa her list every year since she could write," he added. "Those, I'd say, six months, it was bad. It got to the point where you know, to be real, I wasn't coming home for days. And that's when she started to notice."

As his fall into addiction worsened, Santana could no longer hide his actions from his daughter, who ended up including her worries about him in her yearly letter to Santa. "I think she was at her grandmother's house at the time and her grandmother had told her mom and stuff like that, and that's when it was like: alright, this is enough!" he recalled. "It was brought to my attention and that was my rock bottom." Santana recalled how addiction and drugs were prevalent in the house he grew up, and he realized that he'd started to give his daughter the life he vowed she'd never have.

"It was just like: nah, I can't do this. And I'm thankful, to this day, man, because if it wasn't for that letter – if it wasn't for, you know, my family and their support, I wouldn't be here today," he added. "I'm thankful, man, because I remind myself every day."

Recalling the letter, the former AEW star admitted it made him feel lower than he's ever been, as he realized that his daughter fully understood what was happening. "Her mom told me straight up after that, she was like: 'Either you get yourself clean and you get yourself together, or we're gone.' And she had every right. And that was it; that was all I needed."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit the "Rich Eisen Show" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.