Matt Hardy Reveals How Sammy Guevara Developed ‘Reckless Worker’ Reputation in AEW

Sammy Guevara has been a regular presence on AEW television since his debut in 2019. Unfortunately, he has been involved in incidents resulting in injuries to his opponents. This includes an infamous chair spot with Matt Hardy and Hardy believes that led to Guevara getting a reputation as a reckless worker.

In May 2020, Hardy and Sammy Guevara had a heated confrontation during an episode of AEW Dynamite. Guevara threw a chair at Hardy’s head, causing a serious injury. Hardy ended the segment covered in blood and needed 13 stitches from the impact.

While speaking on his Extreme Life podcast, Matt Hardy explained that Guevara was supposed to use a lighter chair for a safer, Sabu-style throw. Instead, Guevara grabbed a heavier chair by mistake, which Hardy couldn’t block in time.

“So once again, we weren’t even on live TV. It was a pre-taped episode, and to stay on our time I think Sammy was a little antsy, and he was kind of rushing a little bit as far as time goes. So they had positioned a couple of regular folding chairs, and the whole thing we talked about is, I wanted him to throw it Sabu style, where it’s flat, just your hands are there. You can kind of protect yourself and slide down the chair, and it just makes a noise.

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There was a heavy chair that was sitting right on the barricades right by that spot, these were just like around the barricade on the other side. He went over and didn’t take his time and looked, but he was over there. I think he just panicked, and he grabbed that one chair, and then he just flung it. That chair weight, it was so heavy.

Once again, I got my hands up and it rocked me as it hit me. If I hadn’t got my hands up it would have probably knocked me out, in all honesty. But it obviously hit me hard, because it split my head open so bluntly. It wasn’t like it was a sharp end, it was just a blunt object that hit me so hard that it split my head.”

Matt Hardy mentioned that Sammy Guevara faced backlash backstage after the incident. Hardy had a serious discussion with Guevara, emphasizing the need to be cautious and not rush when handling objects in the ring. While it wasn’t an angry confrontation, Hardy made it clear that protecting opponents is crucial. Guevara was very apologetic and felt awful about the mistake.

“It rocked me. People were mad at Sammy, and I just remember coming back and I had a stern conversation with him. It was just like, you’ve got to take your time. It wasn’t like screaming and yelling, I was just like, I know it was an accident. He was just so insanely apologetic, he felt like sh*t. He really did. He felt terrible. We just kind of chalked it up.

Hardy also revealed how the incident was viewed by others, including Chris Jericho. They saw it as a chance to use the controversy to their advantage, hoping it would turn into a positive outcome. The focus was on ensuring that such accidents could be used as learning experiences.

”I remember talking to Jericho about it too, and we’re just like, Hey, we gotta just chalk this up and use this now. This gives us some ammunition because everybody’s talking about it, and hopefully, it ends up being a happy accident, as sometimes incidents like that are described in the business.

So, yeah, we had a stern talking to like, Dude, you can’t rush if you get out there and there’s something going on, just think about if you throw that chair, the damage it could do. Because the most important thing is that you protect your opponent when you’re out there. It’s very, very important. I think he took all that to heart and he really felt bad for it. That was the only time I was really, truly upset with him. We had this stern talking to afterwards.”

Regarding the reaction from AEW management, Hardy noted that the incident led to increased scrutiny of Guevara. The management became more attentive to his actions, especially in handling weapons, to ensure he didn’t act recklessly. This event marked the beginning of Guevara’s reputation for being reckless in the ring.

“I’m sure there were people [concerned], obviously, he’s out there with a guy that is considered a legend or whatever, and he should have been more careful when it came to grabbing a weapon and throwing it and what he was going to do, especially because the other chairs were there too.

They were just on the other side of the barricade. So, yeah, I think it kind of made people raise their eyebrows, like, Okay, we got to keep an eye on this guy, just to make sure he is able to be a responsible, good soldier for AEW. We don’t want someone that was reckless. So I feel like that was probably the beginning of his rep of being reckless, because that’s kind of what he got.”

Sammy Guevara has clearly matured a lot since 2020 as he is now a father, but sometimes he still manages to get into trouble for his in-ring accidents. Regardless, fans certainly hope Guevara can keep himself out of trouble now that he is back on television once again.

Do you believe the infamous chair spot was the beginning of Sammy Guevara’s downfall? Let us know in the comments section below!