Santana and Ortiz (Proud-N-Powerful) reveal why they chose AEW over WWE

One of the best tag teams in the business, Santana and Ortiz aka Proud-N-Powerful sat down with Chris Van Vliet to discuss their AEW debut, their time in the indies, how they came into Impact Wrestling and why they ultimately chose AEW over WWE. What is more revealing is that they were closer to signing with WWE than people thought.

They revealed that it was a combination of factors at play. Santana and Ortiz felt that the WWE NXT schedule was too much and that they could have got lost in the shuffle. Ortiz explained,

"The ultimate decision was do we want to just be a part of something that is already established or do we want to be part of something new and make history. No matter what happens with AEW, again, we're here to make this successful, we'll always be part of the first ever main event of the first ever television of AEW.

"Do we want to be part of history or fade into black? Best case scenario...we're just going to be small fish in an ocean!"

Ortiz also said that no matter what happens with this company, wrestling has changed for the better. Santana and Ortiz also mentioned that the NXT schedule eventually would have become a problem, especially when they would have moved to the main roster as it would have interfered with their family life.

Ortiz and Santana also said that WWE was willing to meet their every demand if they wouldn't go to AEW. They also said there was already interest in them before AEW became a reality and that just multiplied once it came to existence.