Noah Santillana isn’t short on confidence. Wrestling as Noah Striker, he called himself the best wrestler in Spain. He had aspirations of reaching the top of the business.
When he spoke with The Scrap in 2022, he was five years into his career and had recently won the Lucha Libre Barcelona Absolute Championship. He had already competed in Philadelphia for CHIKARA, taking an early step toward the international career he wanted.
Since then, he has defended that championship in Switzerland and represented Spain at OTT in Ireland. Those bookings gave him opportunities to pursue the international ambitions he had described, this time as a defending champion and a member of Team Spain.
The Match That Started It
The Rock and Hulk Hogan’s WrestleMania X8 encounter left a lasting impression on a young Santillana. Watching them made him want to become a wrestler himself.
As his interest grew, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Nigel McGuinness, and Bryan Danielson became influences. Pete Dunne later joined that list, giving him another wrestler to study as he developed his own approach.
He began training with Triple W in Madrid in October 2016 and debuted at Total Rumble VII in April 2017. Within three years, an opportunity arrived that would take him across the Atlantic.
The Booking That Interrupted Class
Santillana was in class when he learned he would compete in CHIKARA’s Young Lions Cup.
Initially, he thought someone was playing a joke on him. Once the news sank in, he shouted and ran outside to tell his friends and family. Recalling the experience in a January 2020 interview with Solowrestling, he described it as one of the best moments of his life.
The trip also gave him time to train with other wrestlers, including Mike Quackenbush. Although he lost in the tournament’s opening round, he left pleased with the experience and eager to wrestle his opponents again.
Carlos Romo and A-Kid had helped make that international path feel possible. Santillana respected the work they had done outside Spain and saw his CHIKARA appearance as an opportunity to follow their example while representing Triple W and Spanish wrestling.
The Matches He Wanted People to Watch
When recommending his own work, Santillana pointed toward opponents who had helped him develop within Spain.
His bout against Javier Vives was among his personal favorites. He also took pride in teaming with Kaiden against Aussie Open for the Triple W Tag Team Championship, an opportunity to face an established international team in Madrid.
His matches with A-Kid belonged on the list, too. Someone he admired for making progress abroad had also been an opponent he could learn from at home.
For viewers getting to know him, Santillana recommended his two-out-of-three-falls encounters with Joey Sky.
Together, they capture an important part of his early career. International experience could come from traveling, but visiting wrestlers and the talent developing around him also gave him opportunities to improve.
Taking a Championship Abroad
Santillana was already a champion when the original article appeared.
On July 16, 2022, he defeated Anarko Montaña to win the Lucha Libre Barcelona Absolute Championship. His reign continued until February 25, 2023, when Michael Oku became champion, a run recorded at 224 days.
During that reign, he defended against Carlos Romo and Javier Vives and faced Samuray del Sol in a match that ended in a double count-out. In November 2022, he took the championship to Switzerland and successfully defended it against Kreen.
By October 2023, he was traveling as part of Team Spain. Competing as Noah Santillana, he joined Vives, Iker Navarro, and Gin El Libertario for an OTT World Cup qualifying match in Dublin.
Continuing the Work in Spain
Alongside those international appearances, Santillana continued building rivalries at home. At Tyris Wrestling, his history with Gerard García led to a March 2026 match at Foc I Flama in which the loser would leave the promotion.
At Tyris Wrestling, his history with Gerard García developed into a match with a place in the promotion at stake. Their March 2026 encounter at Foc I Flama required the loser to leave Tyris.
García repeatedly targeted Santillana’s ankle. In his report for Súperluchas, Rafael Indi praised Santillana’s selling as he worked through the match. Santillana eventually secured the victory with two knee strikes, ending an encounter built around their previous meetings and years of rivalry.
It offers a more recent match to place beside the recommendations from 2022. Readers can find coverage and Tyris’s link to the bout in the Foc I Flama report, and follow Santillana through Instagram and X.
When we first profiled him, Santillana called himself Spain’s best and wanted to reach the top of the business. His subsequent opportunities took him abroad with a championship to defend and a place on Team Spain.
The student who once ran out of class to celebrate a booking in Philadelphia would later wrestle in Switzerland and Ireland. Each trip gave him another chance to introduce himself. He had already decided his name was worth knowing.
