Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Battleground Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You play.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Roughly and exclusive interviews with some of your favorite wrestlers.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Stop.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Welcome back to the Battleground Podcast. I'm Josh along with
my co host Eli, and we are joined today by
TNA wrestler and one hell.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Of a guy.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
If he asked me, because I think he's fantastic, Mike Santana.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
What's up?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Look, I'm doing great man. How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I'm doing fantastic. Good to see you on this on
this Friday afternoon. I know we all want to get
to the weekend, so we'll hop right into it here. Listen.
I know you had a big high with winning the
TNA Championship and then you know bigger blow by losing
it only thirty one days later with Frankie Gazarian. So
after such a big taxing year where you mentally and
emotionally and as we had an to the watch of
(01:01):
TNA on AMC.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
I'll be honest, I dealt with a few emotions. I
dealt with a few feelings. Of course, how can I now? Yeah,
how can I not? Right? But if there's one thing
I know about myself is that I thrive into trenches.
You know what I mean, and I'm I've always been
one to use whatever struggles that I've gone through as
(01:24):
gasoline to throw on the fire. So this was just
one of those instances where all right, it happened. Now,
how could I use this to push me forward and
to elevate you know what I mean? Instead of like before,
I was always one to use these moments as an
excuse to self sabotage. Now it's a total opposite. Now
(01:46):
I use them as an excuse. All right, how can
I use this to elevate myself? And That's where I'm
at today, And you know, I felt what I needed
to feel now is let's push forward and let's get
that title right back, right back.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Over alongs around your waist.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, And that's killer to hear you say that.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
I mean, you know, kind of getting out of your
own mind and that self sabotaging stuff like that, That
just that's a higher level of mental health.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
So that's that's awesome. I'm glad, glad you're there.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
On the upcoming UH December eighteenth episode of TNA Impact,
we will see Team TNA versus Team n XT in
a still cage. You will have those responsible for your
loss in a still cage nowhere to go? What can
fans expect to see from this? I mean, I'm sure
you have several thoughts in.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Your in your brain already.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
They're all screwed.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
Yeah, I mean, if I'm being objective, it does seem
a little a team versus BT. I mean, the TNA
team is stacked if we're.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Being Yeah, yeah, y'all ain't playing.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
Yeah, poor them, exactly right for them, because they're they're
locked in there with an animal.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Now. So all the emotions that I told you that
I felt after losing the title, how they got to
deal with them?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Oh yeah, so yeah, poor them?
Speaker 4 (03:04):
But you know, like I said, I let me let
me get through them, let me deal with what's in
front of me. So then deal with's ahead, and that's
getting to Frankie and getting that title back.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And speaking of that, announced this week that you're gonna
get that contractual rematch at TEENA Genesis January seventeenth, So
what do you need to do to get that dub
over Frankie and also keeping the NXT guys you know,
from interfering in that match as well?
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Uh So, listen, I'm gonna if those guys after that
cage match. If they still want to bring that fire,
Oh man, they ain't gonna like what's what's.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
You might have to you might have to pull an
Aaron Judge on him, you.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Know, bro screw Aeron Judge. I'm spending out two grades
and I'm going to work.
Speaker 6 (03:55):
But anyways, Frankie, as you know, he's a Day.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
One TNA guy. He's uh, he's I consider him a legend.
He's someone who there's a reason why he's had the
tenure and has had the years in professional wrestling. And
I ain't gotta like him, but I respect him. So
I'm going in there with someone who has been doing
this longer, and uh now it's now channeling my anger
(04:26):
and my frustration in a strategic way, right and trying
to maneuver around someone who's more experienced. But I will
say this, I've me beating rock Bottom. I've dealt with
the hardest fights I've ever had to deal with in
my life. Right now it's his turn to deal with
(04:48):
the hardest fight he's ever gonna have to deal with
in his life. So I hope he's ready, and there's
only one way to find out, right.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Yeah, we're super excited for that, you know.
Speaker 5 (04:59):
Another incredib well piece of news pertaining to you, the uh,
the the release of episode one of Immersed with Mike Santana.
The Immersed series is just so great. They've They've showcased
so many great talents and gone behind the scenes and
really done an exceptional job. It's gonna air on Fight
Networks YouTube channel, along with collaboration with Tena's YouTube channel.
(05:22):
How did this project come about and what can fans
expect to see in these two episodes about you?
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Oh man? You know? This first one just dropped that noon,
and the first time I watched it, like I didn't,
I didn't know what to expect. Honestly, I knew obviously,
I knew they were filming me, and I knew they
were gonna catch a lot of you know, inside things,
and but to see guys like Homicide and Amazing Red
(05:48):
talking about me, which are two guys who have been
my mentors since, uh since I started wrestling, you know,
two original TNA guys as well, you know, So to
see that was very emotional, to see all the moments
that I had with my daughter, because also there was
moments that I didn't know that I was being filmed.
Speaker 6 (06:09):
So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, so to see to see a few of those moments,
I was like, oh wow, like this is deep, you know,
And yeah, a lot of emotion went into it, a
lot of hard work, and.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
I think, ultimately, you know, after I watched it, to me,
it's it's just a story of a man who went
from undesirable to undeniable, someone who brought themselves from rock
bottom and used rock bottom as a foundation to build
something truly special. And you know, I made myself a
(06:48):
main evenor yeah, you know, And so I I think,
not just because it's me, but it's overall just the
story of a human being that that struggled and used
that struggle as motivation to get to where he's at today.
So yeah, I'm excited for the world to continue watching it.
(07:08):
And Part two drops next week. And yeah, part one
was good. Part two that one was good.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
All right.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
So in about a month you got the big TNA
on AMC premiere. I'm no, excitement level has got to
be ridiculously high right now, you personally, what are you
looking forward to the partnership with AMC.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
One being in front of a bigger audience, more eyes obviously, right,
TNA hasn't been on a major network in over ten years.
I think the last time was what twenty fourteen maybe, Yeah,
So this is a huge deal for the company, and
I think everyone is like everyone has had the same
(07:54):
mindset since the beginning as far as like, all right,
we want to continue making this grow, and everyone is
put in the work. But now like the real work begins.
Right now, we're going to have a broader audience. Now
is time to really put in everything, throw all the
chips in, you know what I mean. And everyone's excited.
Everyone is motivated, and I mean myself like the fact
(08:19):
that we're going into this new era and I am
one of the key figures and one of the faces
of the company, and this era is a huge deal
to me, and it's something that I take very serious.
And I'm excited. Man, I'm excited for the fans ultimately, right,
They're going to have more wrestling, more accessible on a
major network. And yeah, it's just a good time overall. Man.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah, And you know it's got to be a feather
in the hat.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
You know, for you, you left TNA as a tag
team specialist, was your forte had your spelling aw came
back and like you said, now you're top of the roster.
I mean, that's got to be very humbling for you.
So let's go back and play a little hypothetical for
a second. Let's go back to March of twenty twenty four.
You've been granted your release from AW you know, talking
(09:07):
about your tag team experience, you know, there was a
lot of uncertainty or to tie to you, like is
he going to do solo?
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Is he going to do tag whatever?
Speaker 5 (09:15):
With everything that's happened since now, what would you tell
what would you go back and tell yourself around that time,
like just wait, man, just wait, it's almost there.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
I would say, block out the noise and stay the course. Yeah.
You know, there was a lot of people who and
rightfully so, right because I was part of a tag
team for over ten years and that was the only
way that that was the only thing that they saw me.
And that's fair, right, But I knew the work that
(09:47):
I was willing to put in to prove that I'm
way more than that. And thankfully, little by little, you know,
the fans started realizing, oh, like all right, you know,
I went on the independence, I started pay my dues again.
I started building myself from the bottom up, and thankfully
also came into TNA, got a lot of opportunities, and
(10:08):
I made the most of those opportunities. So like, yeah,
like I, I embraced it all. I embraced all the negativity,
all the doubt, all the everything, because ultimately that's what
I used.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (10:24):
It was. It was used as gasoline for the fire.
And I'm thankful man. And I wouldn't change anything. I
wouldn't change anything. I Like you said, I I left
a very comfortable, secure position, making a lot of money,
and I chose you know, and me. I have I
(10:44):
have a daughter, I have bills, I have responsibilities, right,
and it was a very scary decision to make, but
I knew. I always say, if your heart tells you something,
you better fire follow it. Yeah, you better follow it.
Because the last thing that I wanted was to, you know,
(11:06):
past my prime years, get to a point in my
life where I'm later down the line and be like, yo,
I wish I would have taken that chance. Yeah, exactly,
all right.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
I want to go down the fun tunnel for a second.
The funnel, if you will. This is gonna sound nuts,
but here we go. Uh, what is the song that
Mike Santana goes to for karaoke?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Mm hmm for karaoke?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Uh, Rooster, We're gonna have to figure out a way
to have you do that on the premiere on because
I'll be honest, I will pay a cable bill to
see that.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Absolutely, Willow Nightingale and Hers was on Blonde. What's up?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
That's a that's a good one.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, yeah, you know, I I do. I mind.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
It just depends on where I'm at and stuff, like
if I'm in Vegas having a good time, you know,
But like I'll do I want to dance with somebody,
Whitney Houston, I'll do it.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Do a Journey song, I'll.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Do a.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah. Just I gotta be honest.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I always go to the vinyls I touch myself.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I know it sounds very strange. It gets people going
because they don't go at the end of the day.
Speaker 6 (12:24):
Karaoke is about having fun when you when you could
pick a song that catches people off guard, that's.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Right, that's part of the adventure brost of that's right.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
Absolutely, well, you know, we We've got so much going
on heading into the twenty twenty sixth calendar year with AMC,
the AMC deal, You're rematched against Frankie Kazarian. I mean,
it's just such a great time for you in TNA.
Is there anythings you want to say to the fans
before we let you go?
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Oh? Man, First and foremost, I want to say, thank you,
thank you for taking this ride with me, thank you
for not giving up on me, and you know the
best is yet to come, honestly, and also continue supporting
TNA Wrestling. It's been quite the ride for the company
(13:15):
as a whole, and the fact that we get to
share this huge milestone, in this huge moment with the
fans is a huge deal. It is something we don't
take lightly. So Man, just keep supporting professional wrestling. Like
I'm thankful that I get to do what I love
(13:37):
to do and give my daughter an amazing life, and
that's because of the fans.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
So thank you, Mike, thanks for joining us. January fifteenth,
AMC TNA premieres Thursday Night Impact. January seventeenth, we got
TNA Genesis, you versus Frankie Kazerian for the CNA title,
And don't forget to check out episode one of Immersed.
Mike Santana on the Fight Networks YouTube channel, Mike, thank
you for joining us today.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Appreciate it, man, Thank you guys. Man, I appreciate you
guys taking the time