Mike Draztik

Mark Sanchez (born February 4, 1991), known by the ring name Mike Santana or simply Santana, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He also makes appearances for partner promotion WWE on their NXT brand.

In 2012, Sanchez, then known as Mike Draztik, formed a tag team with Angel Ortiz, known as EYFBO and worked on the American independent scene for several years. They won titles such as the AAW Tag Team Championship, CZW World Tag Team Championship and the HOG Tag Team Championship. In 2007, Dratzik and Ortiz were hired by TNA, then known as Impact Wrestling, and they changed their names to Santana and Ortiz respectively. They joined Konnan as the members of the Latin American Xchange (LAX) and won the Impact World Tag Team Championship four times, holding the record for most combined days as champions, with 662 days and, at one point, the record as the longest reign with 261 days. They also won GFW Tag Team Championship and unified the title with the Impact Tag Team Championship. Santana and Ortiz left the promotion in 2019 and, soon after, joined the newly created All Elite Wrestling, where they joined Chris Jericho's stable The Inner Circle. After Jericho and Jake Hager turned on them, Santana and Ortiz and teamed up with Eddie Kingston. Santana left AEW in 2024 and returned to TNA.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2007–2017)

Sanchez debuted in 2007. He spent the first years of his career primarily wrestling In New York and New Jersey. In 2012, Sanchez, then known as Mike Draztik, formed a tag team with Angel Ortiz, known as EYFBO and worked on the American independent scene for several years. They won titles such as the AAW Tag Team Championship, CZW World Tag Team Championship and the HOG Tag Team Championship.

Impact Wrestling (2017–2019)

On the March 16, 2017 episode of ''Impact Wrestling'', Sanchez, under the ring name Santana, made his debut as a member of The Latin American Xchange (LAX), alongside Ortiz. They became part of LAX with Homicide, Diamante, and manager Konnan, where attacked Decay, Laredo Kid, Garza Jr., and Reno Scum inserting themselves in the Impact World Tag Team Championship picture and winning them the following week, establishing themselves as heels in the process. On the March 30 episode of ''Impact'', Ortiz and Santana defeated Decay, Laredo Kid and Garza Jr. and Reno Scum to win the Impact World Tag Team Championship for the first time. On the April 23 episode of ''Impact Wrestling'', Santana and Ortiz defeated Veterans of War ( Mayweather and Wilcox) in a tournament finals to win the GFW Tag Team Championship. On November 5 at Bound for Glory, they lost to Ohio Versus Everything (OVE), when as part of a double turn with Sami Callihan interfering on OVE's behalf, Jake Crist performing a low blow on Ortiz, and OVE attacking them after the match, thus turning LAX into faces in the process.

On the May 24, 2018 episode of ''Impact'' King became the newest member of LAX. After the group leader Konnan was attacked, and Homicide and Diamante went missing in action, King assumed leadership of the faction and guided Ortiz and Santana back to being tag team champions. In June, Konnan and Diamante returned, both showing suspicion about King's involvement with the group. On the July 5, 2018 episode of ''Impact'', Konnan confronted King who admitted that it was he who had "taken out a hit" against Konnan to takeover the faction. King then attempted to get Ortiz and Santana to recognize him as the new head of the group but they rejected this and stood beside the original leader, Konnan. Then, former LAX members Hernandez and Homicide returned, entering the ring and attacking Konnan, Santana and Ortiz. At Bound for Glory on October 14, Hernandez and Homicide lost to Ortiz and Santana in a Concrete Jungle Death match.

On January 12, 2019, The Lucha Bros ( Pentagón Jr. and Rey Fénix) defeated Santana and Ortiz at the TV Tapings in Mexico to win the Impact World Tag Team Championships. Santana and Ortiz would reclaim them at the Rebellion pay per view on April 28. They held the titles until July, when they lost them to The North ( Ethan Page and Josh Alexander).

On July 8, it was revealed that Santana and Ortiz would soon be leaving Impact and had interest from WWE and All Elite Wrestling. During August 9 tapings Santana and Ortiz were given a "send off" by the Impact locker room. Santana confirmed the following day that he and Ortiz were in fact done appearing on Impact Wrestling.

All Elite Wrestling (2019–2024)

On August 31, 2019, at All Out, Santana and Ortiz made their debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW), attacking both Lucha Brothers ( Pentagón Jr. and Fénix) and Nick Jackson after their tag team ladder match, establishing themselves as heels. On October 2, the inaugural episode of ''Dynamite'', they teamed with Chris Jericho in the main event and defeated The Elite (Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks). Led by Jericho, they subsequently formed a new faction along with Sammy Guevara and Jake Hager called The Inner Circle. On the November 18, 2020 episode of ''Dynamite'', Konnan reunited with Santana and Ortiz during an Inner Circle party in Las Vegas. In March 2021, the Inner Circle began feuding with The Pinnacle, thus turning Santana and Ortiz faces in the process.

On the February 9, 2022 episode of ''AEW Dynamite'', the Inner Circle had a team meeting that ended with Sammy Guevara throwing his vest and walking out. It was later announced that Jericho and Hager would face Santana and Ortiz in a tag team match the following week, with it being billed as the ''Inner Circle Implodes'' match. On the March 9, 2022 episode of ''Dynamite'', the Inner Circle was disbanded after Jericho and Hager attacked Santana and Ortiz and formed an alliance with 2point0 and Daniel Garcia. On the June 29, 2022 at '' Blood And Guts'', Santana and Ortiz competed in the main event, defeating the Jericho Appreciation Society.

During his absence, it was reported Santana and Ortiz had problems working together. After the tag team returned following Santana's recovery from injury, Santana had his ring name changed to ''Mike Santana''. The team competed alongside the Blackpool Combat Club losing to Kingston, Penta El Zero M and Best Friends' Trent Beretta, Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy in a Stadium Stampede match at All In at Wembley Stadium on August 27. After the event, the team disbanded which led to a match on '' AEW Rampage'' on October 27, where Santana defeated Ortiz. In March 2024, Santana's profile was removed from AEW's official website, ending his almost five-year tenure with the company.

Return to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2024–present)

On April 20, 2024, Santana made his return to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (formerly known as Impact Wrestling) at Rebellion, defeating Steve Maclin. On April 24, it was announced by TNA that Santana had signed with the promotion. In June, Santana would begin a feud with The System, after they cost Santana a chance to qualify for the TNA World Championship match at Slammiversary. At Slammiversary, Santana defeated Jake Something. Following Slammiversary, Santana would focus fully on The System and get revenge for the attacks on him. On the August 15 episode of Impact!, Santana would face off against Moose in a losing effort. At Emergence, Santana would team with The Hardys and Joe Hendry to face The System in a eight-man tag team match, in a losing effort. On the September 19 episode of Impact!, Santana would defeat JDC in a Texas Death Match. Following the match, Moose would attack Mike Santana. This would lead to a rematch between the two at Bound for Glory. At the event, Santana defeated Moose to end the feud. At Turning Point, Santana defeated Frankie Kazarian. At Final Resolution, Santana would compete in a four way match to determine the #1 contender for the TNA World Championship, which would involve Joe Hendry, Steve Maclin, and Josh Alexander. However, Hendry won the match.

Following the match, Santana began a feud with Josh Alexander, taking Alexander's headgear. After defeating the Northern Armory in a Gauntlet match and later getting attacked by the group, Santana defeated Alexander in an "I quit" match at Genesis to end the feud. Following the match, the two men shook hands and Alexander quit TNA.

After Genesis, Santana entered a feud with Mustafa Ali. In the build-up, Ali would taunt Santana's past of being a drug addict and would crash one of his consueling sessions. On March 14 at Sacrifice, Santana was defeated by Ali.

WWE (2025–present)

Santana made his WWE debut on May 25, 2025 on the developmental brand NXT at Battleground in a backstage segment, where he was confronted by No Quarter Catch Crew ( Charlie Dempsey and Tavion Heights). Two days later on '' NXT'', Santana defeated Heights in his WWE in-ring debut, as well as challenged Trick Williams for the TNA World Championship, which Williams had defeated Joe Hendry for at Battleground. On the June 3 episode of ''NXT'', Santana failed to win the title from Williams after interference from First Class
( AJ Francis and KC Navarro).

Championships and accomplishments

* Beyond Wrestling
**Greatest Rivals Round Robin Tournament (2016)
* AAW: Professional Wrestling Redefined
** AAW Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Ortiz
* All Elite Wrestling
** Dynamite Award (3 times)
*** "Bleacher Report PPV Moment of the Year" (2021) – Stadium Stampede match ( The Elite vs. The Inner Circle) – Double or Nothing (May 23)
*** "Biggest Beatdown" (2021) – The Inner Circle jumping Orange Cassidy – ''Dynamite'' (June 10)
***Hardest Moment to Clean Up After (2021) – ( Best Friends vs. Santana and Ortiz) – Dynamite (September 16)
* Combat Zone Wrestling
**CZW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ortiz
* Global Force Wrestling
** GFW Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Ortiz
* House of Glory
** House of Glory Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
** HOG Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Ortiz
*Impact Wrestling
** Impact World Tag Team Championship ( 4 times) – with Ortiz
** Impact Year End Award (1 time)
***Tag Team of the Year (2018) – with Ortiz
* Jersey Championship Wrestling
** JCW Tag Team Championships (1 time) – with Ortiz
*Expect The Unexpected Wrestling
**ETU Key To The East Championship (1 time, current)
*Greektown Wrestling
**Greektown Wrestling Championship (1 time)
*Latin American Wrestling Entertainment
**LAWE Heavyweight Championship (1 time, inaugural)
* ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated''
** Faction of the Year (2021) – with The Inner Circle
** Ranked No. 119 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the '' PWI 500'' in 2019
*Pro Wrestling Revolver
**PWR Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ortiz
*WrestlePro
**WrestlePro Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ortiz
*Warriors Of Wrestling
**WOW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ortiz
* World Wrestling League
** WWL World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ortiz

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Santana, Mike
1991 births
Living people
Professional wrestlers from New York City
American male professional wrestlers
American people of Puerto Rican descent
Professional wrestlers from New York (state)
AAW Tag Team Champions
TNA/Impact World Tag Team Champions
GCW Tag Team Champions
CZW World Tag Team Champions
HOG Heavyweight Champions
HOG Tag Team Champions