If you have been keeping up with the professional wrestling news this week, namely the increasingly tumultuous stories coming out of All Elite Wrestling‘s apparent problematic locker room, you will be aware of the stories concerning Andrade El Idolo and Sammy Guevara. As first reported by TMZ Sports, Guevara and Andrade were last night involved in a physical altercation hours before AEW Dynamite went on the air – mere days after a Twitter spat which saw Guevara describe Andrade as an “ungrateful pr*ck” and “jobber” in a series of now deleted Tweets.
Tony Khan Must Suspend Sammy Guevara
Courting Controversy
Of course, we do not know the full circumstances around the incident which caused the altercation, but what we do know is that this isn’t Guevara’s first incident within the AEW locker room. Just recently, he was involved in a similar altercation with Eddie Kingston over an unaired promo, in which Guevara presumably mocked Kingston’s weight – this part of the promo not having been ran by Kingston first. Kingston was suspended for laying a hand on Guevara.
Between these two incidents, and an earlier incident where Sammy had expressed awfully misogynistic views about Sasha Banks, Sammy appears to be an increasingly problematic, negative influence courting all manner of controversy within in the AEW locker room. There comes a point when someone attracts so much negative attention that, quite shockingly, you begin to suspect that someone might, in fact, just be the problem. Following the Banks comments coming to light during the Speaking Out movement of 2020, Sammy was sent away for sensitivity training – a fair (if not overtly fair) solution to an incident which occurred years prior.
Negative Attention
Yet, despite the training, Sammy continues to attract negative attention and controversy on a near monthly basis. If you were to browse Twitter under the search term “Sammy Guevara”, you will find many fans coming to Sammy’s defense, often with the claim that he is an “immature kid” and “still learning”. Whether it’s his youthful appearance or blatant ignorance on the side of these fans, Guevara is 29 – yes, 29 years old. He is a grown man more than capable of differentiating between right and wrong, not some fresh out of college youth still learning how to come to grips with adult life.
Of course, Andrade is certainly liable for a share of the blame for becoming involved in an awful, childish Twitter dispute which is only entertaining for how embarrassing it is – but to his credit, incidents like these for Andrade are few and far between. For Guevara? They are a near regular occurrence and are clearly indicative of a far larger problem than anything involving Andrade.
Prior to AEW Dynamite last night, it was originally reported by a number of pro wrestling news outlets that both men had been sent home from Dynamite following the altercation – a fitting punishment for two wrestlers involved in such turmoil mere hours before an important live show, so soon after all of the controversy which followed AEW All Out‘s media scrum (infamously hijacked by one CM Punk).
Yet, on the show, Sammy Guevara appeared – winning a main event match (against Daniel Garcia and Bryan Danielson, no less) alongside long-time partner and mentor, Chris Jericho. What’s worse, this was the show heavily billed as the third year anniversary show. This writer asks: what kind of precedent does this set? Has Tony Khan, under an ever-increasing amount of criticism for his obvious failure to keep things under control (as one fan said through the form of a sign last night, “hire a HR expert”) learned nothing from recent events? It is understandable that it’s impossible for one man to keep complete control of a locker room containing dozens of professional wrestlers (regardless of what hardcore WWE fans might think, Vince McMahon failed in this area, too) but there is certainly much more Khan could be doing to prevent such humiliating incidents from coming to surface. Why weren’t Andrade and Guevara kept well clear of each other? Could there not have been a formal, “clear the air” type meeting arranged prior to the altercation occurring? If there is a company in need of a “HR expert”, it is AEW.
Conclusion
Of course, as expected, many AEW fans (as well as “bad faith” opponents of All Elite Wrestling who will criticize Khan and AEW no matter what) have cited Tony Khan’s friendship with Guevara – sharing the video of Khan dancing alongside Guevara and Tay Melo at their recent wedding – as the reason for Guevara being treated so favorably in comparison to Andrade.
With Sammy being an ever-present “Day 1” AEW star, personal friend of Khan and a member of the “Four Pillars of AEW”, you might be forgiven for believing Guevara being kept around for the main event of the show, whilst Andrade was sent home (for an altercation where it was reported Guevara, himself, got physical first), is an act of favoritism on the behalf of AEW’s President. It is an undeniable PR disaster on the behalf of the President and, frankly, reeks of amateurism as opposed to professionalism. Sammy was essentially rewarded for his actions and this is why he will never change. When a toxic force is enabled long enough, eventually, an even worse incident will occur. Only Tony Khan can prevent this from happening and, alongside many other AEW fans, it is difficult to believe he will do so.
Just a few short weeks ago, there was a great reset in AEW – one where AEW World Champion and perceived (and respected) locker room leader, Jon Moxley, cut the most passionate, honest promo of his career in a successful attempt to move AEW on from the negativity of the CM Punk incident. Unfortunately, we are right back where we started and the longer Guevara remains unpunished, the more of a slap in the face it is to Moxley and the legacy of that promo.
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other wrestling stories worldwide as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of important news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS and AEW Dark: Elevation (Monday nights) and AEW: Dark (Tuesday nights) at 7 PM ET on YouTube. Additionally, AEW Rampage airs on TNT at 10 PM EST every Friday.
