{"id":219999,"date":"2026-07-29T00:05:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T05:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=219999"},"modified":"2026-07-29T00:13:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T05:13:29","slug":"cruz-montana-fka-mike-santana-reveals-why-he-left-tna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/07\/29\/cruz-montana-fka-mike-santana-reveals-why-he-left-tna\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruz Montana (fka Mike Santana) reveals why he left TNA"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-455243754\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>Cruz Montana, formerly known as Mike Santana in TNA, said that he left TNA for NXT because he felt he had become complacent in TNA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t an easy decision,&#8221; said Cruz appearing on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.siriusxm.com\/player\/episode-audio\/cruz-montana-nxt\/31655840-e84d-870b-2e64-2d2f0beea494\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WWE Radio.<\/a> &#8220;They\u2019ve done so much for me in my career, and loyalty is a big thing for me. Loyalty is everything. During my time there, the company and I grew together. One thing we\u2019re always taught is you do good business, and you always leave a place better than what you found it. I felt like I did exactly that. TNA was somewhere where I felt comfortable. I didn\u2019t want to feel comfortable anymore.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of &#8220;Worse or Better&#8221; with Stephanie Chase and Josh White, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/worse-or-better-episode-14-from-pillar-to-post-josh-is-joined-by-adam-kidd-to-look-at-the-four-pillars-of-aew-from-day-one-to-today--73198141\">CLICK HERE<\/a> to stream (or search \u201cpwtorch\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Worse or Better (Episode 14 - From Pillar to Post) - Josh is joined by Adam Kidd to look at the four pillars of AEW from day one to today\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=73198141&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Montana said that he still has love for TNA, but he believes that wrestling is a nomadic sport. \u201cI love that place, said Montana. &#8220;Genuine love for TNA. That locker room is a special place. I\u2019m very goal-oriented, and I\u2019m trying to grow as much as possible. This is a very nomadic sport. You have to move around. It\u2019s been done since the beginning of time. I\u2019m gonna do what I have to do. I\u2019m going to keep growing. I want to make sure my daughter is set for life, and she never has a worry a day in her life. I\u2019m so thankful I\u2019ve been able to do this at a high level for so long and still be a present father.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fightful.com\/wrestling\/cruz-montana-mike-santana-says-it-was-difficult-to-leave-tna-but-he-no-longer-wanted-to-feel-comfortable\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">(H\/T Fightful)<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AEW Redemption - PWTorch Post-show w\/Greg Parks &amp; Brian Zilem\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-Qun20N1tfA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1414542355\"><div id=\"pwtor-678945927\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Cruz Montana, formerly known as Mike Santana in TNA, said that he left TNA for NXT because he felt he had become complacent in TNA. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t an easy decision,&#8221; said Cruz appearing on WWE <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/07\/29\/cruz-montana-fka-mike-santana-reveals-why-he-left-tna\/\" title=\"Cruz Montana (fka Mike Santana) reveals why he left TNA\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":217706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,13,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-news_nxt","category-news_wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-09-at-11.30.14-AM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219999"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220005,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219999\/revisions\/220005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}