Santana made a surprise return to AEW on last night’s Dynamite: Fyter Fest after more than a year away, allying with the Blackpool Combat Club alongside long-time tag partner Ortiz. He’s now set to make his in-ring return at AEW All In: London this weekend as part of the Stadium Stampede match which will see him, Ortiz, Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta clash with Eddie Kingston, Penta El Zero Miedo, Orange Cassidy, Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta.
The former IMPACT World Tag Team Champion last competed in AEW in June 2022 at Dynamite: Blood & Guts in the event’s namesake match against The Jericho Appreciation Society. He suffered an unfortunate ACL injury during the bout which caused him to be removed mid-way through and kept out of action for over 14 months. In the interim, his partner Ortiz has mainly teamed with Eddie Kingston and Ruby Soho alongside competing in rare singles matches.
Following his shock appearance on Dynamite, Santana took to X (formerly Twitter) to post a statement on his ACL injury, reflecting on struggles he’s faced in his life over the last few years and thanking fans and family for their support throughout the difficult recovery process.
“To say that I knew what the road ahead of me was going to be like when I got hurt, would be totally false,” Santana began. “The struggles and battles I’ve overcome to get back to what I love and have dedicated my life to is unimaginable. But the most important thing was that it taught me so much about myself and made me a 10x better person than who I was.
I’m thankful that everything from the last 3 and half years happened the way they did. It needed to. Everything from losing my father, to unhappiness at work, to personal struggles and everything in between. I’m thankful for all those things. They forced me to face me. To look in the mirror and learn to love/appreciate the person looking back. My story will be told eventually. I just want to enjoy this moment that I’ve worked so damn hard to get to.
Thanks to EVERYONE who ever reached out. Every message from the fans. All the support from my family. Those who were there during my darkest days. I’ll forever be grateful for all of you. NOW LETS GET TO WORK!”
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