by Former TNA World Champion Mike Santana, now known as Santana Cruz, debuted on WWE Monday Night RAW this week during the shows final segment. He was part of a 5 on 4 attack that witnessed the group take out The Bloodline. With the numbers squarely in favor of 946, one would have to think it is only a matter of time until Jacob Fatu returns to help the Bloodline even the odds.
Santana first made a name for himself on the main stage of TNA in 2017 as part of Latin American Xchange alongside Ortiz as they were mentored by Konnan. He stayed with the company for a very successful run with multiple tag Team before leaving in late 2019 to help launch AEW as part of the Chris Jericho group called The Inner Circle. While he and Ortiz never captured the tag titles, they were consistently in contention for them.
He returned to TNA in 2024 for another successful run for nearly 3 years before leaving for NXT in July of 2024. During that run with TNA, his singles career finally took off with multiple World Championship runs. He was the hottest free agent on the market when WWE swooped in and picked him up in late July.
Cruz was almost instantly a part of the main event picture with NXT and a lot of fans thought he would be the next challenger for current NXT World Champion Grayson Waller, but clearly the WWE had a need for him to join this widely popular heel faction sooner then later, getting him ready for War Games.
Elsewhere on RAW tonight, another former TNA and AEW standout, Ethan Page captured the WWE Intercontinental Championship from Chad Gable. Page had been rumored to be forming a faction with other former AEW stars Rusev (Miro) and Big Bill, which could still verymuch happen.
Also on the show tonight, John Cena announced the date and venue for the John Cena Classic will be December 14th at Disney World.
