Backstage Update on Santana’s Current AEW Status, Is He Still Under Contract?

– Fightful Select has an update on MIA AEW talent Santana, who hasn’t appeared in AEW since the Blood & Guts match that took place on the June 29, 2022 edition of AEW Dynamite. According to Fightful’s report, Santana is still with the company at the moment.

Santana reportedly had a falling out with his longtime tag team partner Ortiz and was already teaming with him on a less frequent basis when he suffered an ACL injury in the Blood & Guts match. Before that, Fightful Select notes that Santana had been counting down until his AEW contract expired.

According to the report, the former LAX member is still under contract with AEW, and he was reportedly paid while he was out of action with his injury. However, the report notes that the time of the expiration of Santana’s contract was never clarified. A source familiar with AEW contracts noted that if Santana’s contract ended in September 2022 as he previously hinted on his social media, AEW might attempt to keep him under contract longer, for about two more months, as that was about the amount of time he would have had left when he was injured in late June 2022.

Additionally, the sources Fightful Select spoke to said that Tony Khan is adamant about paying talents while they are on the injury shelf, including well after their contract would have originally expired. The report notes that AEW paid for over half of a year that Santana could have been “off the books” for the company.