Sammy Guevara, one of AEW’s Four Pillars, went and picked another fight with a veteran, and once again seemed to get special treatment from company CEO Tony Khan in the aftermath.
This time, it was Andrade El Idolo, who became the focus of Guevara’s ire after a podcast interview in which Andrade related that the only time he’d had any issue with another wrestler in AEW was when Guevara went to management claiming that he had worked stiff with Guevara in a match.
Guevara, when news of the podcast comment hit the interwebs, started an online spat with Andrade that led to a backstage incident between the two last week before the “Dynamite” live event in Washington, D.C., in which Andrade reportedly took a swing at Guevara.
Khan responded by canceling Andrade’s scheduled main-event match on Friday’s “Rampage,” and allowing Guevara to compete in the main event of “Dynamite,” in which Guevara won the fall in a tag match with his partner, Ring of Honor world champ Chris Jericho, against Bryan Danielson and ROH Pure champ Daniel Garcia.
This happened several weeks after Guevara had started a row with AEW veteran Eddie Kingston ahead of a scheduled match between the two at the “All Out” pay-per-view that Khan responded to by suspending Kingston and canceling their pay-per-view match.
Aside from Khan not seeming to understand the old wrestling business axiom – personal issues draw money – it’s also clear where the CEO’s thinking needs to be here.
Andrade, reportedly, has expressed his interest in returning to WWE now that Paul “Triple H” Levesque is in place as head of creative up north, and has asked his way out of the AEW deal that he signed last year.
And he’s not the only WWE castoff to have made that request, according to the dirt sheets, which have reported similar interest from Malakai Black, Buddy Murphy and Miro, all having made it known that they’re not happy with how they’ve been used in AEW.
It seems that Khan is sticking to his guns, and the terms of the contracts that he inked, but you have to wonder if he wouldn’t be better off shedding some contracts with guys who aren’t and haven’t been making him any money, and didn’t and won’t make WWE any money.
None from among Andrade, Black, Murphy and Miro have been able to get over with AEW fans, making their complaints about how they’ve been used ring a bit hollow.
Khan could probably do himself well making some additional cuts, to be honest, but starting with the disgruntleds wouldn’t be a bad start.
But he needs to be careful, at the same time, with Guevara, who has punched up, twice, and been allowed by Khan to walk away unscathed.
TK should have sat Guevara last Wednesday, and it still wouldn’t hurt things if Khan would either put him on the shelf for a few weeks to let him cool his jets, or at the least job him out a couple of times in big matches, just so that Khan can let Guevara know who’s boss.
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Chris Graham
