Mike Santana will never forget is Concrete Jungle match in TNA.
At TNA Bound for Glory 2018, Mike Santana teamed with Ortiz and Konnan as “The Latin American Xchange”. LAX battled against The OGz, comprised of Eddie Kingston, Hernandez and Homicide in a stylized hardcore match.
This was the “Concrete Jungle” match, referencing the contestants’ New York roots. It saw the ring mat being removed, exposing the wooden boards below. Weapons like tables and trash cans were used to ensure maximum damage, as Mike Santana and LAX came out as the winners.
Mike Santana recently spoke with PWMania.com’s Scott Mitchell, where he was asked about the Concrete Jungle Match. The former AEW star revealed everything about the match hurt, calling it “pretty insane”.
He added that bumping on the exposed wood was very painful, and that the match only came together at the last minute. While all the wrestlers did agree to take the ring mat off the expose the wood, it was a painful experience.
“It hurt. Everything about that match hurt.” Mike Santana said. “I’ll never forget it. It was pretty insane. Having to bump on that wood was not fun. Not only that, but the wood started coming apart, so there was just gaps in the ring. I remember watching it back and coming very close to my foot going through one of those gaps.”
“So that would not have been fun. As far as the concept of it, I don’t think anyone knew what it was going to be. It just all came together last minute. At first, we didn’t know how we wanted to set it up, but we all agreed on just taking the mats off the ring and having fun with that. But man, that was a wild one,” Mike Santana added.
Feeling blessed
During a recent interview with WrestleZone, Santana said he’s blessed to have the year that he has had. After returning from a serious injury one year ago, Santana is happy with how things are going in this chapter of his career.
“It’s been a wild year. I’ve been blessed, to say the least. Especially going back to the things that I went through while I was out, and just that whole process of bettering myself as a human being and getting my mind, body and spirit right. I’ve been enjoying everything. It’s been pretty cool just to see how much talent is out there,” he said. “I’ve been wrestling a lot of the younger guys coming up, I’ve been wrestling a lot of the veterans who I came up with. I’ve been wrestling guys who have been around even longer than me.
“So just learning from everyone in general and it’s been awesome. I’ve got to work with Shelton Benjamin. I’ve worked with Amazing Red, Homicide and a lot of the other younger guys that are out now. It’s just been awesome, man,” Santana explained. “Then like you said, getting back to TNA and being on that roller coaster, seeing how much it’s grown since I’ve been away, and being part of this new path and this new growth that’s it been on. Everything is hitting on all cylinders, so it’s been pretty cool.”
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