Week two of AEW’s weekly show Dynamite was viewed with a keen eye from wrestling insiders across the globe.
Would AEW’s Dynamite be able to follow up it’s phenomenal debut? Week one had the luxury of immense planning time while week two had just 7 days to prepare for the follow-up? Viewership was slightly less than week one although it still managed to beat WWE’s NXT program. Chris Jericho, the reigning AEW champion addressed the crowd with his new clique which he dubbed “The Inner Circle” consisting of Jake Hager, Santana, Ortiz, and the newest wrestling hotshot Sammy Guevara.
Jericho offered an extremely complimentary introduction of all members of the newly formed faction but the introduction of Guevara was particularly glowing
“…he’s athletic, he’s acrobatic, he is simply amazing…”
Sammy Guevara sat down with wrestling insider Chris Van Vliet to discuss everything you could ever want to know about Sammy Guevara. There is more to Sammy Guevara than wrestling, he is an interesting cat with his own idiosyncrasies. It turns out his old theme song “I am Jesus” is a song made specifically for the Hollywood film Get Him to the Greek. “The Best Ever” addresses his affinity for pandas by stating “…that’s it, everything I do I try to incorporate a little piece of me and what I do. So it’s all authentic.” Guevara expressed a desire to be booked in China in an effort to fulfill his dream of, you guessed it, holding a panda. One might wonder what is so appealing about a panda, Guevara states
“…I mean they’re chill right…but they’re a bear so you go mess with it, it’s gonna kill you..”
What would happen if Guevara ever showed up for a match and there was a panda in the ring?
“If I can come out to a panda in the ring one day, I’ll retire the next day.”
Sammy Guevara made his Dynamite debut by taking on Cody Rhodes in a fantastic match displaying the athletic prowess and high flying style of high wrestling. Rhodes eventually won the match when Sammy went for one of his high risk-risk high reward moves from the top rope. Rhodes was able to counter the “shooting star press” with the “inside cradle” to win by pinfall. Despite the loss, Sammy put the rest of AEW on notice that he is the real deal and he is a force to be reckoned with both inside the ring and on the mic. What appeared to be a sign of respect and an act of sportsmanship by Guevara following his loss to Rhodes turned out to be a set up as Chris Jericho attacked Rhodes from behind. Jericho would send a message to Rhodes as a preview of what’s to come at Full Gear when the two are set to square off for the AEW title. Jericho would brutalize the number one contender, Cody Rhodes, for over four minutes following the Guevara match.
So who is Sammy Guevara and how did he end up as part of “The Inner Circle?” Let’s take a look back at his journey through professional wrestling thus far. Sammy Guevara was born in July of 1993 in the great state of Texas. The 26-year-old is from Houston, Texas and was trained by Booker T at Reality of Wrestling (ROW) which was formerly Pro Wrestling Alliance. Guevara would make his professional in ring-year-old debut for River City Wrestling in 2013. Guevara would work with Inspire Pro Wrestling, learning the business and refining his craft, until 2017 during his time with Inspire Wrestling Guevara would win two titles. Sammy Guevara had a brief stint with WWE competing in a dark match, a non televised match, as part of a tag team with partner the Laredo Kid against the team of Los Matadores. A loss at the hands of Los Matadores would effectively end his tenure with the WWE.
Sammy Guevara would continue to work with various independent promotions through 2018. His high flying abilities would be put on display in promotions such as Full Impact Pro, Major League Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Guerilla through 2018. In 2017 Guevara made appearances on Impact Wrestling at the 3rd Xplosion as part of a tag team with Davey Richards and on July 4th Guevara was one of the wrestlers competing in the Super X Tournament also for Impact Wrestling. Guevara also competed at EVOLVE 77 and 81 in 2018 during his quest to gain respect and make his mark in the world of professional wrestling. Sammy Guevara has accumulated an impressive resume of championship titles during his nine years in the wrestling business. His accolades include River City Wrestling (RCW) 2-time Intercontinental champion, RCW 2-time Phoenix champion, Inspire Pro Wrestling 2-time Junior crown champion, AAA cruiserweight champion. In 2019 and beyond Guevara will have his sights set on the AEW championship.
In 2019 Sammy Guevara would get the biggest break of his young career when he would sign with AEW.
During his AEW introduction, Guevara alerted the wrestling universe that no matter who else AEW signed “…your true superstar is Sammy Guevara.” As if the contract with AEW wasn’t enough, Guevara holds the distinction of competing in AEW’s first-ever single’s match when he faced off against Kip Sabian at AEW’s inaugural event Double or Nothing on May 25th, 2019 from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Guevara has been able to parlay his position from being part of “The Buy In”, which is the portion of the pay per view which was free to viewers, to be a significant part of the AEW’s product as a member of the high profile stable “The Inner Circle.” The future is indeed bright for Sammy Guevara. He is currently a member of the most prolific faction in the hottest promotion in the world. His rise, while appearing to be meteoric, was actually nine years of dedication, sacrifice, and hard work.
He has paid his dues and is now in a prime position to reap the benefits of his labor. Where the storyline of “The Inner Circle” goes remains to be seen but make no mistake, Sammy Guevara’s ship has arrived and his time is now. With a crowded field of talent in the single’ division, a title shot in AEW will be hard to come by. In the meantime, there are plenty of wrestlers in the division who would make an intriguing feud partner for Guevara. MJF is at the top of my list for feud partners for Sammy Guevara.
The Cody Rhodes angle is already built in and the brash arrogant persona of each competitor would make for some fantastic promos. The tagline would be phenomenal” I’m better than you and you know it v The Best Ever.
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