Mike Santana Discusses Wrestling Gunther, Swerve Strickland, And The Importance Of Evolving

Mike Santana emphasizes the importance of adaptability in professional wrestling and shares his thoughts on sharing the squared circle with many of today’s top wrestlers.

Mike Santana is a seasoned veteran of the ring. However, he also recognizes the importance of evolving with the industry and adjusting his ring style to stay competitive with the best of any era, as well as changing with the times to prolong his career.

Speaking with Sean Ross Sapp in an interview recorded before TNA Slammiversary, Mike Santana emphasized the importance of adaptability. For him, it’s something he takes pride in since he started wrestling. Wrestling is a universal language, but he wants to be a hybrid wrestler and master different techniques.

“I’ve always prided myself, and when I was starting to come up in the game, I always made it a thing that I wanted to be a hybrid wrestler. I want to be able to be put anywhere in the world and work. Wrestling is a universal language, but also at the same time, there’s different styles. If you could go in there and learn every style and be able to be placed anywhere in the world on any show and pull out the very best, that to me makes a total complete pro wrestler. Adaptability is everything. Adaptability is everything. I’m like a chameleon when it comes to pro wrestling, man. I’ve been blessed to have the career that I’ve had. I’ve traveled all over the world, and I use all of that today.”

Mike Santana’s affinity for adaptability also enables him to compete effectively in the ring against different generations of competitors. Santana reflected on wrestling names such as Gunther (WALTER) and Swerve Strickland, among others, as they all rose through the ranks. He also praised the present-day independent circuit, sharing out names like Marcus Mathers and Calvin Tankman.

“Oh yeah, for sure. I got to work with a lot of people. Walter, Swerve, I was blessed to come up during such a time when there was so much talent out there and we were all working with each other. That late 2000s, early 2010s, mid-2020s, like that class of talent, it was endless. So the fact that I got to come up during that and work with all those guys, I definitely knew that Walter was going to be a big deal. I definitely knew. Same with Strickland. Strickland, we wrestled each other 2012, 2013 and we had a one-on-one too. I was like, ‘Yup. This is going to be a dude.’

“Also, today in the indie run I’ve been on today, like Marcus Mathers is a beast. So good. What’s crazy is I had a 30-minute banger with the kid, and first of all, he was the first person that ever made me feel old because he gets on the mic after the match, and he’s like, ‘Yo, I remember when you used to wrestle with my dad.’ I was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Don’t say that too loud. Like don’t say that to people.’

“He’s a big one. I just got to wrestle Calvin Tankman. He’s a beast. The only thing that I will say is that the strive for like really, really wanting to make it is very few and far in between now. Back then, everybody was like, ‘Yeah, we got to make it. We got to.’ I feel like now, there’s pockets.”

Fans can check out the full interview with Mike Santana embedded at the top of this page.