Santana’s days in All Elite Wrestling might be numbered. Shortly after one half of Proud and Powerful competed in the grueling Blood & Guts match this past Wednesday on AEW Dynamite, rumors began to surface that Santana might be eyeing an exit from the company. This comes alongside recent speculation (not a report) from Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful that there might be problems between Santana and his long-time tag partner Ortiz. Sapp pointed out that the two rarely interact on television these days, and have not tagged together in a standard two-on-two bout since early 2022. On top of that, Santana has dropped numerous cryptic hints about his future on social media.
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“126 days,” Santana tweeted on April 28. That timeframe would take him to September 1, around the time his AEW contract would expire, as most of AEW’s inaugural deals were for a three-year duration. Santana made his first AEW appearance on August 31, 2019 at AEW All Out.
The former Impact Wrestling Tag Team Champion has also been taking independent bookings for the better part of 2022, making one-off appearances for various promotions as a singles wrestler.
On top of this rumored exit, Santana is coming off an injury he suffered in Wednesday’s Blood & Guts match. Santana landed a Uranage on the Jericho Appreciation Society’s Daniel Garcia, but landed awkwardly on his knee. His leg would buckle immediately following the move, leaving Santana grounded for the rest of the match. Santana would eventually be helped out of the ring and up the ramp, and was unable to return to the top of the cage for his team’s post-match victory celebration.
Following the initial speculation, Bryan Alvarez of theย Wrestling Observer Radioย reported that Santana would be MRI scanned and that doctors believe the injury is “very, very bad.” This injury comes at a terrible time for AEW, as Santana joins the likes of CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Kenny Omega, Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Buddy Matthews, Jungle Boy, and numerous others also on the shelf with a variety of injuries.
While AEW retained most of their talent in their first three years of existence, the young promotion is starting to see some original faces move on following their contracts expiring. Beyond the notable departure of co-founder Cody Rhodes, AEW has seen stars like Joey Janela, Marko Stunt, and recently Alan Angels leave in recent months.
Stay tuned to ComicBook for updates on Santana’s contract status and injury details.
