Mike Santana Reflects On Sit Down Interview With Jim Ross

Mike Santana has revealed how Jim Ross did a great job of putting him at ease in one of the most real interviews he’s ever had to do.

Although generally known as a tag team wrestler alongside Ortiz, Mike Santana has also had a number of forays in to the singles division in AEW. One of those runs saw him go up Jon Moxley, and during this time he did a very candid sit-down interview with Jim Ross.

In a discussion with Jeremy Lambert and Joel Pearl on In The Weeds, Santana spoke about how it was a difficult interview, but JR did what he could to make it feel real for the audience, but as easy on him as possible.

That sit down, it affected me so deeply, losing my dad, because we were so close. That sit down was real as hell. I remember JR telling me, I was kind of nervous because I was still very emotional at that time and my biggest worry was not being able to keep it together, emotionally.

JR comes to me and is like, ‘Let’s just talk, no character stuff, just talk. We’re going to have a conversation. That’s it. Pretend like the cameras aren’t there.’ He did a great job of just relaxing me. I look back on it now, and that pain was there, and it came out. In the best way possible.

“Pain Equals Paint”

Continuing on, Mike Santana gave an interesting analogy to what he was going through at the time, and how special the interview was.

There is a saying I learned while I was out, ‘Pain equals paint.’ Sometimes your greatest pain will give you your greatest art. That was an example of one of those moments. It was very special. Just to sit down with JR in general. All the greats have done it. They’ve all sat down with him and had interviews and moments that have put them on a whole different playing field.

That’s another thing I was thinking about. ‘Take advantage of that moment, make the best of it.’ Working with Moxley was great. We spoke and he knew everything going on and we were in that storyline with Inner Circle and him. It was all good stuff. It was great working with him and I’d love to work with him again.

It looks like Mike Santana will be set for a lot more singles action after a sensational split from his tag partner.

With thanks to Fightful for the transcription.