Santana & Ortiz: Chris Jericho Was A Huge Factor In Us Joining AEW Over WWE
The pair have been an integral part of Jericho’s Inner Circle
Santana and Ortiz were tow of IMPACT Wrestling’s hottest prospects when they were a part of LAX. After leaving the IMPACT Zone they had a host of suitors vying for their signatures, but it was Chris Jericho who helped sway them over to AEW.
Talking on the AEW Unrestricted podcast, The Proud and Powerful said the following about Le Champion:
“That was one of the deciding factors for us coming into the company because right before we went in, we had offers to go to WWE or AEW,” started Ortiz “We were on the fence initially, but one of the swaying decisions for us was Chris specifically wanted us to be a part of The Inner Circle. We were like, wow. He’s a huge part of our bonding experience. When we started becoming a tag team, we both read Jericho’s first book, ‘A Lion’s Tale’, so we were like this is the blueprint to be a wrestler. This is it right here. He was a journeyman. He wrestled everywhere. This is what we want to do. Watching guys like him, Dean [Malenko], Eddie [Guerrero], we wanted to be true journeymen. We bonded over his first book, so fast forward to us hearing Cody [Rhodes] saying Chris wants us to be in this stable, we were like, ‘What? What’s going on right now?’”
“It was just one of those really weird, full circle moments where we were like, we bonded over his first book, and now we are a part of his journey, and a part of his legacy,” Santana continued “We will be tied into his career. It’s crazy when you look at it that we grew up watching him and all of these guys. This whole experience the past two years has been insane. With everything that’s gone on personally in my life, with everything professionally, the whole pandemic, it’s just been crazy insane.”
H/T: 411mania.com