Santana And Ortiz Discuss ‘Respectful’ Inner Circle Split, Wanting To Prove Success On Their Own

The Inner Circle has been together since the premiere episode of AEW Dynamite in October 2019 when Chris Jericho aligned with Santana, Ortiz, Sammy Guevara, and Jake Hager to close the show.

The group nearly split following AEW Double or Nothing 2021 where the stipulation stated they must disband had they lost, but they managed to pick up the victory over The Pinnacle.

Jericho previously mentioned that he wanted to “respectfully disband” the Inner Circle, but Tony Khan had other plans.

Speaking to Stephanie Chase of Digital Spy, Sananta & Ortiz commented on a potential split.

“For me, personally, I felt like we had done so much and have proven to be so successful at being the group that it was time for all of us to go our separate ways and start establishing our own selves and whatever we would continue doing and stuff like that and maybe eventually we could bring it back together for a major moment and rock and roll again. The group is cool and we’ve proven that the group can be successful, but now let’s prove that each of us can be successful on our own, almost like the Wu Tang Clan. They were great together and successful together and then when they all broke up, they all became successful. That was more my mentality,” said Santana.

While Santana compared the Inner Circle to a legendary rap group, Ortiz went with a comic book comparison.

“We’re like the Justice League or the Avengers. They have stand alone movies and side adventures. Why isn’t the rest of the Justice League there to help them in this cataclysmic event? At the moment, we were having our stand alone movies. I like having the option to come back to it. Why does everyone have to break up and everything has to end in negativity or turmoil even though that kind of seems that’s where it’s going right now. Only time will tell. Family fights and we have our issues. We’ll see where it plays out,” said Ortiz.

The Inner Circle remains aligned, though Eddie Kingston has inserted himself into the picture and fighting alongside Santana & Ortiz.

Santana & Ortiz will team with Jericho on Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite to take on 2point0 & Daniel Garcia.

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