AEW's Sammy Guevara has been part of exciting and historic matches in AEW's short history, including the first-ever Stadium Stampede match, as well as Blood & Guts matches, and many more, but one of his most treasured bouts is his ladder match with Cody Rhodes for the TNT Championship at "AEW Dynamite: Beach Break" back in January 2022. Guevara was Rhodes' opponent on the first episode of "Dynamite" in 2019, and would end up also being his last at the 2022 show. Guevara recently spoke about what that meant to him on an episode of "The Wrestling Classic." He said he knew something was up, as rumors about Rhodes leaving were already flying.
"I could feel, 'This might be it for him.' Didn't know for sure. Didn't know if he was working me or not," Guevara said. "And that match, too, we went balls out. We went wild with it. I don't think either one of us intended to make it the greatest ladder match of all time or any of that, but the fact a lot of people put it in such high praise means a lot. I feel like I didn't understand at the time what that moment meant for myself or my career. It's only now when I look back and I can see the moments that were made out of it, it's like, 'Oh, wow. That was a really special night."
Guevara would win the match, which was rated a five-star bout by Dave Meltzer, to capture the TNT Championship from Rhodes. The pair are tied with Wardlow for AEW stars who have held the title for the most reigns. Guevara is currently one-half of the ROH Tag Team Champions alongside Cody's brother, Dustin Rhodes.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Wrestling Classic" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
