In a recent episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast, All Elite Wrestling stars Santana & Ortiz discussed several topics, including how being part of The Inner Circle and working with Chris Jericho was the main reason as to why they chose to join All Elite Wrestling over accepting a WWE deal.

“That was one of the deciding factors for us coming into the company because right before we went in, we had offers to go to WWE or AEW, we were on the fence initially, but one of the swaying decisions for us was Chris specifically wanted us to be a part of The Inner Circle and we were like wow.

He’s a huge part of our bonding experience. When we started becoming a tag team, we both read Jericho’s first book ‘A Lion’s Tale’, so we were like this is the blueprint to be a wrestler, this is it right here. He was a journeyman, he wrestled everywhere, this is what we want to do. Watching guys like him, Dean, Eddie, we wanted to be true journeymen, we bonded over his first book, so fast-forward to us hearing Cody saying Chris wants us to be in this stable, we were like what, what’s going on right now, it was just one of those real weird, full-circle moments where we were like, we bonded over his first book and now, we are a part of his journey and a part of his legacy.

We will be tied into his career, it’s crazy when you look at it that we grew up watching him and all of these guys. This whole experience over the past two years has been insane. With everything that’s gone on personally, with everything professionally, the whole pandemic, it’s just been crazy insane.”