Pro wrestling fans are no strangers to witnessing wild videos appear on their timeline. We’ve seen backyard wrestling before, as it was the genesis for some people’s fandom, but playground wrestling is on another level.

A video went viral showing playground wrestling in New York City. This video was incredibly hard, and it is also stirred some fond memories with a lot of people. That being said, it was new to many as they saw it pop up on their feeds.

https://twitter.com/BvDpro/status/1784264029327794219

AEW Stars React

The AEW locker room keeps their pulse on the heart of what’s trending on social media. When Ortiz saw the crazy playground wrestling display, he shared a bit about his own history on Twitter/X. Seeing a video like this brought back fond memories for him.,

“We did this every Saturday rain or shine for years.Kept me out the streets../ Developed friendships I still have to this day.where I developed my love for pro wrestling. Now a decade later it’s catching traction all over social media.we would of killed for this attention back then!”

Will Ospreay is now lighting up the AEW roster after making his way from Japan. He has seen what the pro wrestling world has to offer, and he responded to say the playground wrestling video is fire.

2KW 🔥🔥

— Will Ospreay • ウィル・オスプレイ (@WillOspreay) April 28, 2024

Playground wrestling legend King Tek also chimed in. He had nothing but great memories to share, and one of them included the art of taking a powerbomb in a very unconventional setting.

That is me taking the powerbomb into the crowd

I loved every minute I spent wrestling here

Awesome people Awesome atmosphere pic.twitter.com/0c4n1afyur

— KingTEK (@_TekTweets_) April 27, 2024

Unconventional Pro Wrestling Viral Videos

Pro wrestling is very much engrained in popular culture, so you never know when it will pop up in a viral video. We’re getting a lot more gender reveals based around pro wrestling matches. Logan Paul and Nina Agdal just revealed the gender of the upcoming addition to their family with a match.

You also never know when a pro wrestling fan will throw a match into their wedding reception. We’ve also seen fans use pro wrestling themes, like The Bloodline, in their actual ceremony as they make their way to the altar.

Fans have seen wrestling matches break out in public while they were in town for big events. These may be organized in a manner of speaking, but it certainly has a violent avant-garde vibe.

Professional wrestling is a physically demanding sport, performed by trained professionals in controlled environments. Wrestling on asphalt playgrounds increases the risk of injuries in massive fashion. That being said, always prioritize safety and don’t try this at home, or at your local school/park.

AEW star Ortiz recently shared an unfortunate update after suffering an injury. He has revealed that he is set to undergo surgery which will keep him on the shelf for several months.

Ortiz has been away from the programming since last competing on January 20 edition of AEW Collision. On the show, he had joined forces with Eddie Kingston to face Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli in a losing effort. Now, it seems he will once again miss some action.

Making an appearance on Isiah Kassidy’s vlog, Ortiz shared his current status with the promotion. He disclosed that he sustained a torn pec and the injury took place from a clothesline. The 32-year-old star then revealed that he will have his surgery in a couple of weeks and he will be out of action for at least four months. 

“I’m injured. I’m about to get surgery in two weeks… It was just from a clothesline. I tore a pec. I tore my pec from a clothesline… Two weeks and four months recovery time, and then I’ll be back.”

Later in the vlog, Ortiz and Kassidy were seen working on commentary for AEW star Ethan Page’s Alpha-1 Wrestling promotion in Hamilton, ON, Canada. Ortiz also worked as a guest referee on that show. 

Ortiz and Mike Santana split

Ortiz had been in a tag-team with Mike Santana for more than a decade and they were part of several promotions including AEW where their most prominent run was during their association with Inner Circle. 

However, over the years Santana and Ortiz grew apart and they recently decided to split up due to their personal differences. Following the break-up, Ortiz started competing as a singles wrestler. It was only last month that Santana was released by AEW and he went on to shed light on why the duo decided to part ways. 

As Ortiz awaits his surgery, we at SEScoops wish him a swift recovery and hope he is back in the squared circle soon.

Santana and Ortiz were one of AEW’s most popular tag teams, but the two’s friendship became very fractured and their professional relationship ended.

When there were reports of tension between the two, many speculated that it could have been storyline-based, but that wasn’t the case. 

In a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, Santana talked about how him and Ortiz grew apart over time.

“We were together for 10 years, I think. When you’re together with someone that long, it’s like a married couple. There’s good, there’s bad, and I think, honestly, for the most part, it was like, I think we just grew apart over time.”

Santana says that the two’s philosophy on tag team wrestling became different and implied that he and Ortiz had different drives when it came to moving forward in the pro wrestling world.

“I’m a go-getter. I like to create opportunities for myself. I’m more than willing to fight for our spot, but also, I’m not going to be the only one.”

When asked if he and Ortiz still had heat with one another, Santana said that he holds no ill will to his former tag team partner and is in a different place in his life than he was during that time.

Santana & Ortiz really first caught fire during their run in TNA and it prompted Tony Khan and AEW to pick the duo up. They soon became a primary aspect to Chris Jericho’s first All Elite faction, The Inner Circle. Despite their popularity, they never did capture the AEW World Tag Titles and actually did turn their real life tension into an on-air storyline. Santana was released by AEW earlier this month.

Credit to Chris Van Vliet and h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.

Mike Santana and Ortiz joined AEW in 2019, quickly becoming fixtures in the tag team division. Proud n Powerful had a lot of momentum coming into AEW as the former LAX, but that team is no longer a factor. 

Why Mike Santana & Ortiz Split Up

Unfortunately, Mike Santana and Ortiz’s relationship soured, leading to a permanent split. Last year, they made a surprising return but remained at odds. Aligning with the Blackpool Combat Club for the Stadium Stampede match at AEW All In, their partnership was short-lived. 

Despite a feud that ended with Mike Santana winning on the October 25th Rampage, fans were disappointed they didn’t reunite for another run. The two are not going to reunite, from everything we can tell.

The Shining Wizards Wrestling Podcast recently spoke to Ortiz, where his split with Santana came up. He made it clear that their team’s disbanding was totally Santana’s call.

”Unfortunately, it wasn’t the company’s call to split us (Santana & Ortiz). Me and Santana just couldn’t get it together personally and he was just very adamant about not working with me anymore. So, the company kind of had no choice but to split us up, right? So they’re like, ‘Okay, you’re just not gonna not tag. It doesn’t make any sense. Let’s at least make this make sense why you split.'”

Mike Santana & Ortiz’s Future

Mike Santana has been missing from AEW television since concluding his program with Ortiz. He remains part of AEW and continues to accept independent bookings. 

The future of the former tag team is uncertain, but it appears that if a reunion is in the cards, then they have a lot of personal issues to work through first.

There have been rumblings over the last few weeks of an AEW tag team no longer being on the same page.

The talks simply started as speculation, rather than a report. Fans took notice of Santana and Ortiz not really being together for their feud with the Jericho Appreciation Society.

While the duo had been involved in multi-man tag team matches, they weren’t really seen together, which got people talking.

As they say, where there’s smoke there’s fire.

Konnan Claims Tension is Real

Konnan has taken to his Keepin’ it 100 podcast and he confirmed that there are indeed issues between Santana and Ortiz.

“Yes, they are not on good terms.”

Konnan on Santana & Ortiz

Konnan is close with both men, so he certainly has credibility when it comes to the topic at hand.

It’s quite the turn of events as many felt Santana & Ortiz had the potential to eventually win the AEW World Tag Team Titles after the Inner Circle disbanded.

Santana is expected to be out of action for quite some time as he suffered a knee injury during the recent Blood & Guts match.

On top of that, Santana’s AEW contract is reportedly going to be up soon.

While it isn’t confirmed, some have speculated that he has been teasing leaving the promotion once his deal expires.

An AEW star says he nearly walked out of Stadium Stampede with one less finger.

The main event of Double or Nothing back in May 2021 featured a Stadium Stampede match between Inner Circle and The Pinnacle. A stipulation was in place and had Inner Circle lost the match, they would’ve disbanded.

Ultimately, Inner Circle won the match, which meant Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, and Proud N’ Powerful got to remain a faction.

Entrance Almost Led To Severed Finger

During an interview with Digital Spy, Ortiz of Proud N’ Powerful said that he nearly severed a finger during Inner Circle’s special entrance.

“I wasn’t wearing gloves. So when I jumped, out of instinct I grabbed the rope in front of me. But you have this carabiner hooked up and it’s like this thick metal carabiner, so with the slack of me getting pulled up, it cut my finger.

“So I actually wrestled the rest of Stadium Stampede with a bandage around my finger and it cut pretty deep – it left a scar.

“But I was like, ‘Man if I would have grabbed it differently my finger would have just went flying off but I would have had no choice but to do the entrance because it was one take, that’s it. But yeah, luckily I didn’t lose my finger.”

The entrance made for quite a visual, although many watching live were instantly concerned for the safety of the performers.

Luckily, nothing serious went down and all fingers remained intact.