Konnan believes that not only will Santana and Ortiz get back together, but he has also been working behind the scenes to make it happen.
For much of 2021, it appeared as though Santana and Ortiz would be the next tag team to really break through in AEW and establish themselves as one of the top teams in the promotion. However, come mid-way through 2022 things unraveled in spectacular fashion.
The pair stopped teaming together and then it came to light that they had fallen out backstage. To make matters worse Santana underwent reconstructive knee surgery that July and hasn’t wrestled since.
Santana and Ortiz began teaming together on the independent scene before joining IMPACT Wrestling and becoming part of the reformed LAX alongside Konnan, Diamante, and Homicide. After starring with the group, Santana and Ortiz ended up moving to AEW in 2019 where they became part of the Inner Circle with Chris Jericho.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Nick Hausman for Inside The Ropes, Konnan revealed that he’s actually spoken with both Santana and Ortiz about getting back together. He added that working with Jericho “did nothing” for them and as a result Santana got frustrated, something he completely understands.
“I don’t know because you know, for a while here, Ortiz and Santana haven’t been seeing eye to eye. I’ve been talking to both of them to see if they will reunite. I think that you know, the problem was that LAX originally — the first time I ever talked to Tony [Khan], he told me about LAX. And then the next thing I knew when I inquired about it, you know, he wanted me to come in and manage it.
And then when I inquired about it — or it might have been Cody — but then when I inquired about it Tony was like, ‘Oh Jericho’s is going to use them.’ And I was like, ‘That’s a weird fit. But f*ck it.’ Then when I saw that, and I love Jericho, he’s one of my best friends, but bro, he did nothing with them. I mean, absolutely nothing with them. And so these guys died a slow death and Santana was p*ssed off, and he has every reason to be, the guy’s f*cking uber-talented and you’re not doing sh*t with him.”
Reflecting on performing with the pair as part of the entire LAX faction in IMPACT Wrestling, Konnan said that he worked closely with Jeremy Borash (now with WWE) and Sonjay Dutt on creative for the group. The veteran suggested that Dutt could now use his influence in AEW to see if Tony Khan can get the team back together.
“So you know, Sonjay Dutt, who’s a very good friend of mine. He helped when we were doing the LAX vignettes, him and Jeremy Borash before he left, you know, they were really the guys that were doing everything with me, we were like a three-headed creative team if you will.
Sonjay is there and he knows how popular LAX was because he helped with a lot of the stuff. You know, maybe he can one day tell Tony to bring it back. I mean, I think that we would kill it. You know, we just had great chemistry, and we did a lot of great things.”
Will Santana And Ortiz Reunite?
When asked directly whether he could see Santana and Ortiz getting back together, Konnan said that he could, and gave a not-so-subtle hint that he would like to book them if the reunion doesn’t happen in AEW.
“I hope so. I think so. You never know, maybe when we have our show, we’ll bring them over there if they’re not working with AEW.”
With Santana out of action, Ortiz continued to appear on AEW television but his appearances have been few and far between in recent months. His most recent match came on the April 6th episode of Ring of Honor where he was defeated by Brian Cage.
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