Mike Santana, TNA, on his battle with addiction and the letter that changed it all in todays Wrestling news
This week, TNA Wrestling released a new episode from their series “Immersed”, which focused on Mike Santana’s return. Santana’s battle with addiction is more than just a talent returning to the promotion. Santana spoke about his addiction and his efforts to get his life in order.
Santana spoke to me about his recovery journey after the release of the episode. You can read the full interview at the bottom of the post.
Santana has a long history with TNA. He was a part of LAX, a tag team that won four TNA Tag Team titles. The rising duo signed with AEW just as the company began its journey in 2019. Santana and Ortiz had been part of Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle and during their time at AEW they participated in Stadium Stampedes and Blood & Guts fights.
Santana was injured in the second half of his tenure and was unable to play from June 2022 until August 2023. After his return, he played only three matches. His last match was on AEW Rampage versus Ortiz. Santana and AEW split up in March this year after five years of working together.
Santana surprised the crowd by returning to TNA a month later at Rebellion as Steve Maclin’s mystery opponent. Later, it was revealed that he had re-signed with TNA.
Santana said that his addiction to alcohol was caused by the death of his dad on January 1, 2020. He explained that he received the call when he was working for AEW at Daily’s Place, and that having weekly TV shoots from Daily’s Place was a constant reminder, which led him to drink. Santana said that he still “hates’ the venue and city to this day because of the unfortunate memories.
“I kept a lot of things inside and never dealt with them.” “When my dad died, the soda bottle I was shaking exploded,” said he.
After the death of his father, he took a two-week break and returned to the road. After the pandemic began and he moved to Daily’s Place, he began to numb his memories. He said it snowballed and he began numbing himself in his home.
“I couldn’t go more than two days without self-medicating, because my body had become accustomed to it.” Then I realized I had a problem. I was ashamed and guilty, so I didn’t tell anyone. I was able hide it. Then, when I was hurt, I finally got home. By that time, I had become an addict. There was no way to hide it. When I started disappearing for days, I realized that it was time to get serious. “It’s a problem,” he said.
Santana revealed that the moment that he knew that he had reached rock bottom was when Santa Claus received a letter from his daughter wishing for her father to stop drinking. In the Immersed episode it was revealed that the letter written by his daughter saved his life. It was this letter that caused him to change his ways, ask for help and go to rehab.
Mike Santana, TNA, on his battle with addiction and the letter that changed it all in todays Wrestling news, Chatalong Chatbox, Results will be Hidden inside a spoiler Button so you will not bet spoiled about direct results.
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