Report: Mike Santana finishes up with TNA
With WWE heavily rumored to be in his future, Mike Santana could soon be contractually able to begin the next chapter of his career.
PWInsider reports that Santana finished up with TNA at Slammiversary, where he headlined the pay-per-view and lost the TNA World Championship to Nic Nemeth. Santana is not scheduled to appear at the television tapings that TNA is holding in Albany, New York this Wednesday and Thursday.
The report says Santana’s TNA deal expires in the “upcoming days” but does not give an exact date for when he will hit free agency. The expectation has been that Santana’s contract will expire in mid-July.
Santana was a two-time World Champion for TNA. In the promotion, he broke out as a singles competitor after previously being considered a tag team specialist. The past few years of Santana’s life and career have been transformative with him getting sober from drugs and alcohol and becoming one of the faces of TNA.
Mike Santana on his future —
It’s not been confirmed that Santana will be signing with WWE, but he did not play down those rumors in media interviews ahead of Slammiversary. Though his focus remained on the PPV and helping lead TNA as champion, Santana told McGuire on Wrestling that he was open to opportunities for growth whether it was in TNA or elsewhere.
“As far as the future goes, man, like I’m the type that growth is part of my life and I feel like if there’s an opportunity for me to grow, then that’s what I’m going to do,” he said. “Whether it’s at TNA, whether — anywhere, anywhere. For me, if you’re not growing in this business, then what are you doing? If you’re not trying to progress in this business, then what are we doing? And at the end of the day, like I need to show my daughter that there’s levels, right? There’s levels to this. And also my dad used to always say the top of one mountain is the bottom of another, right? So keep climbing, keep climbing.”
Santana was with AEW before departing the promotion in 2024 and beginning this run with TNA. He’s already made some WWE appearances over the past year due to the TNA-NXT partnership.
Earlier this month, WrestleVotes reported that — though it’s not known which brand he’ll land on if he does sign — WWE was hoping to have Santana on the main roster before the end of 2026.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.