Tito Santana
Posted by Steve Urena
on 10/22/2004
Interviewer's Note:
Tito Santana is a considered a legend and has wrestled all around the world. He is known for his professionalism in and outside the ring. He has made the transition from wrestler to teacher, and now teaches spanish for the Roxbury school district in NJ. He is also involved with a salon in the Roxbury mall which is a great place to go for haircuts. They take walk ins, but I would recommend making an appointment which can be done by dialing (973) 584 1996.
Steve Urena: How did you get involved in the wrestling business?
Tito Santana: I played college football at West Texas state University and when I was playing ,as a matter of fact me and Ted Dibiase and Tully Blanchard were on the same team and Tully Blanchard's father was a promoter in South Texas and that's how they got me interested in it.
Steve Urena: Who was your favorite person to work with and why?
Tito Santana: It would probably be a tie between Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff; we had some great matches together.
Steve Urena: Out of all the titles you’ve won, which one meant the most to you?
Tito Santana: Probably the WWF intercontinental championship title.
Steve Urena: You’ve been a tag team competitor winning Tag Team of the year in 1979. Did you like that better than singles wrestling?
Tito Santana: No, I preferred singles competition better than tag team wrestling.
Steve Urena: What do you think of Randy "Macho Man" Savage's rapping?
Tito Santana: I haven't heard it yet.
Steve Urena: What do you think of the hardcore/backyard wrestling?
Tito Santana: I understand it's pretty widespread. I don’t think its very safe for some of the amatuers to be doing stuff like that. They can get really hurt and that’s not good.
Steve Urena: How was your experience working on the Legends of Wrestling game series?
Tito Santana: It was a great experience and I enjoyed being a part of it. I enjoyed it. It is pretty cool to see myself in a video game.
Steve Urena: what was it like working for ECW and Paul Heyman/Tod Gordon?
Tito Santana: I became the champion and never went back to defend the title. Paul Heyman and I did not see eye to eye so I just never went back to ECW.
Steve Urena: When you first stepped into MSG for the first Wrestlemania what was going through your head?
Tito Santana:I just wanted to have a good match because I knew if you made it in MSG then you made it in the NY territory.
Steve Urena: You’ve worked all over the world. Where is your favorite place to wrestle?
Tito Santana: In the United States.
Steve Urena: Who do you think has the brightest future in wrestling?
Tito Santana: I think Bob Orton's son Randy has a great career ahead of him.
Steve Urena: What made you step away from wrestling to become a teacher?
Tito Santana: My kids were getting older and I just wanted to be around my kids and watch them grow up and to participate in their sports.
Steve Urena: Which is harder: wrestling or teaching?
Tito Santana: They both have their own difficulties and I get a lot of pleasure out of both of them. I enjoy teaching as much as I did wrestling.
Steve Urena: I've heard you brought your school's basketball team to victory. What was that like?
Tito Santana: It was a great experience I had a great bunch of kids and everything went well. we were undefeated and at the championship we were down 5 points with three minutes left and we came back and won.
Steve Urena: Would you ever have a training program for younger people who want to become wrestlers?
Tito Santana: I don’t have time to do that right now. I am pretty busy.
Steve Urena:I have heard of the AWF, a federation you once were a part of. Would you create another federation?
Tito Santana: It would take a lot of money and time and I don't really want to devote any time to anything else. I love what I'm doing now and I really want to retire as a teacher.
Steve Urena: What was your favorite promotion to work for?
Tito Santana: WWF.
Steve Urena: If you could wrestle anyone for a return match at like Wrestlemania, who would it be against?
Tito Santana: Either Greg Valentine or Paul Orndorff.
Steve Urena: Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, and others have written books. Would you consider writing a book?
Tito Santana: I almost have one finished, it's just a matter of the publisher publishing it. I'm not having a lot of luck with that. I pretty much have one that’s almost finished.
Steve Urena: Thanks for your time today.
Tito Santana: No problem.
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