AEW Tag Team Still Not Getting Along
It seems issues remain between one long-time AEW tag team.
Santana and Ortiz burst onto the scene in AEW at All Out 2019 when they shocked the Lucha Brothers and The Young Bucks, attacking both teams after they had gone to war over the AAA Tag Team Championship in an Escalera De La Muerte match.
On the first edition of Dynamite Santana and Ortiz teamed with Chris Jericho to take on The Elite in the night’s main event. By the end of the show, Jake Hager and Sammy Guevara had joined the trio, wiping out The Elite and giving rise to the Inner Circle.
Over the next three years, Santana and Ortiz’s AEW careers would be closely intertwined with Jericho’s as they helped fight Jericho’s battles as part of the group only to find themselves cast aside when the first-ever AEW World Champion decided to form the Jericho Appreciation Society.
AEW tag team still at odds
Santana last competed in an AEW ring back at Blood & Guts in 2022 where he suffered a serious knee injury while teaming with Ortiz, Eddie Kingston, and The Blackpool Combat Club to defeat Jericho’s group. However, tensions were rising between Santana and Ortiz backstage.
Reports from the time suggested a fallout between the long-time tag team partners with Konnan – who worked with both men in TNA – going on record on his Keepin’ It 100 podcast to suggest that Santana and Eddie Kingston almost got physical over the issues:
“It breaks my heart because I spent a lot of time with them and I’ve said before that they’re like my sons. I heard it almost got physical with Santana and Kingston over this. It’s not a good look, bro. I really hate seeing that these two guys who could have gone to WWE and really f*cking blown up, that they separated.”
Ortiz was last seen on AEW television back in March but he returned to the ring on the 13th of August at an independent show. Those hoping for a happy reunion between the teammates might be disappointed, however, as Fightful Select has issued an update noting that Santana and Ortiz “were still not on good terms” but also noting that they could still find a way to work together in the future.