LAX hint at free agent decision.
Former IMPACT Wrestling Tag Team Champions LAX (Santana & Ortiz) are set to become free agents at the end of the month as their contracts with IMPACT Wrestling will expire. LAX started with IMPACT in 2017, winning the IMPACT Tag Team Titles four times during their time with the company.
"They trusted us in positions where guys at our level coming in, we were brand new to TV," Santana said on the Shining Wizards Podcast. "We were brand new to working that kind of style. Every situation they threw us in, they trusted us to hit it out of the park. Not even knowing who we were. The fact that they gave us [LAX] meant the world. Especially at that time coming in, we were kids. They actually believed in everything we could do."
Ortiz added, "They took a risk on us, and it paid off. Them putting us in the best possible situation all the time definitely played a huge part in our success. We were just able to take the ball and run it. Also, the fact that a lot of the veterans there, especially at that time, they all took the time to sit with us and spit knowledge. Tommy Dreamer, Abyss, Sonjay [Dutt] sat with us and were like, 'Hey, maybe do this different. This will get you better in this way.' Not a lot of places are like that."
The duo wrestled their last match with IMPACT at the Aug. 16 television tapings in Mexico and were given a send-off by various members of the roster. The following day, Santana posted a "thank you" to the company and confirmed that they had wrestled their last match with IMPACT.
"As you now know, we were finishing up. Kudos to them, they could have shitted all over us, and they didn't," said Ortiz. "They let us leave in the best way possible. We had a really good send-off. That's unheard of. Usually, when people are leaving the company it's like, 'Alright. Fuck off.' We knew they were going to do something, but we didn't know exactly [what it was]. It was cool they gave us that moment. They let us spend as much time as we wanted in the ring. Scott D'Amore gave us hugs as soon as we got to the back. There was no malice or love loss. Business is business. It was like the last day of high school."
When asked if they would be able to use the LAX name away from IMPACT, Santana said, "We're gonna be doing our own thing. We're still Santana & Ortiz, but we're gonna be putting out something new."
As far as their next move goes, there is plenty of speculation that the duo will be appearing on Wednesday nights, either with WWE NXT or AEW as they reportedly have offers on the table from both companies. Santana & Ortiz didn't give anything away but did mention that they would love to work in Japan, where they have never wrestled.
Ortiz then added, "We're at a weird time where our contracts came up, right at a crazy time in wrestling. Of course people are talking about Wednesday night now. We just happen to be, as far as name-value, one of the bigger ones for our contracts to come up. People won't be disappointed with our decision."
Finally, Santana stated, "Not only that, just know that, if you know anything about our careers and what we've done to this point and what we did to get to this point, we're about making history."
As of now, it is unknown as to which promotion LAX will sign with once their contracts with IMPACT expire at the end of the month.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Shining Wizards podcast with a h/t to Fightful.
