Santana debuted as a wrestler in 1980 after being trained at The Great Malenko wrestling school in south Florida.
[2] In 1985, Santana worked for NWA Texas Allstar Wrestling in San Antonio in June 1985 won the Texas Allstar Tag Team Championship as the Hoods with Tony Torres defeating Shawn Michaels and Paul Diamond, known as the American Force.
On October 4, 1986, he won the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team titles with Brady Boone from Mike Miller and Abdudah Dein.
[5] Returning to the NWA, he won the Pacific Northwest Television Championship from Al Madril in February 1990.
[5] Santana won the WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championships twice, both times with Ray Gonzalez as the Latin Connection.
In the Catch Wrestling Association, he won the World Tag Team Championship with Black Navy Seal from Michael Kovac and Dirk Rotzek, on November 27, 1999.