News

AJ Styles Breaks Silence On Ex-AEW Star’s Arrival In WWE

By Gaurav Singh • Published Jul 25, 2026 07:48 EDT
AJ Styles WWE
AJ Styles on recent WWE signing (Image Source-WWE.com)

AJ Styles opened up on a former AEW star joining the WWE recently. The star in conversation is Mike Santana.

Mike Santana gained prominence after joining AEW in 2019, where he formed a tag team with Ortiz. He was also a part of the ‘Inner Circle’ faction under the leadership of Chris Jericho. In 2024, Santana departed All Elite Wrestling and later joined TNA.

He also became a two-time TNA World Champion during his tenure. There were rumors that Mike Santana could join the WWE soon, and Matt Hardy recently stated that Santana joining the Stamford-based promotion wouldn’t surprise him at all:

I mean that, that, that wouldn’t surprise me. I would guess that’s probably Mike Santana’s ultimate goal [is] to work for WWE. You know, most kids who grew up loving wrestling, their goal is to work for WWE at some point, have a WrestleMania moment, whatever else. That [him going to WWE] wouldn’t shock me at all.”

This past week, Mike Santana made his highly-anticipated WWE move by showing up on NXT. Santana confronted the current NXT Champion, Tony D’Angelo, upon his debut towards the end of the show. He has also competed on NXT in March earlier this year when he was signed with TNA.

AJ Styles on former AEW star joining the WWE

Speaking on The Phenomenally Retro Podcast recently, AJ Styles reacted to the WWE move of the former AEW star, Mike Santana while also revealing their backstage conversation on NXT.

AJ Styles revealed that he had a talk with Mike Santana after his NXT move this past week, and Santana told him that he is here now:

The thing is, Mike came out at the end of the match, where Tony is holding up the heavyweight championship. Mike comes to the back, I said, ‘What’s up bro? Good to see you. I hope you’re doing well. Where are we doing this? We’re doing this in TNA? Are we doing this here in NXT?’ He goes, ‘No dude, you don’t understand. I’m here now.’ I was like, ‘Oh wow. We got you.’”

The Phenomenal One further stated that he is looking forward to Santana’s next move after he joined the WWE:

So it was pretty cool man. I’m looking forward to seeing what he’s going to do next.” [H/T Fightful]

Fans will have to wait and see what’s next for Mike Santana after he confronted the current NXT Champion, Tony D’Angelo.