Though Blood & Guts remains a popular attraction for All Elite Wrestling fans, it also remains one of the most brutal match stipulations for performers.
With its distinct cage structure, Blood & Guts has become an environment for innovation, and insane plunges. Despite the inherent risk, Sammy Guevara embraced the moment, and actually some pitched ideas of his own. Speaking on the Elite POV podcast, Guevara recalled his performance in last year’s Blood & Guts match with the Jericho Appreciation Society.
At one point, Sammy Guevara climbed his way up to the top of the cage to attack Eddie Kingston. The “Mad King” soon turned the tide, though, launching Guevara off of the cage, causing him to land through the timekeeper’s table. According to Guevara, the spot was actually his own idea.
“The first one, [Chris] Jericho got thrown off the top and I remember texting him in the chat beforehand, like really wanting to get thrown off. All these crazy things you see — that’s something with me and Darby [Allin], we do a lot of crazy stuff and people are like, ‘Oh, man, I can’t believe they have you do this or you’re agreeing to do this.’ It’s our idea, you know?” So, Jericho took it in the first one and then got the opportunity to be in the second one. I texted him. I was like, ‘Hey, you took it last year. This is mine now.’ We came up with how that happened,” Guevara said.
Guevara noted he took a pretty serious bump in a prior ladder match and resolved to be more careful in future matches. Leading up to that June 29th episode of AEW Dynamite, Guevara revealed he had a “serious conversation” with his wife, and fellow wrestler, Tay Conti about “not taking so many stupid bumps.”
Soon after, though, Guevara informed her of his Blood & Guts spot. Guevara mentioned he also wanted the table he broke through to be smaller, but he and Conti negotiated and agreed to tone things down.
“I had to fight with him,” Conti said. “No, we’re trying to make it safer!”
Six months before Blood & Guts, Guevara tackled another high-stakes stipulation, wrestling Cody Rhodes in a TNT Championship Unification Ladder Match. Heading into matches that provoke “crazy bumps,” Guevara said that to be a game-changer, “you got to take those risks,” even if they don’t work out how one may plan. Instead of worrying too much, though, Guevara focuses on just “nail[ing] it” so he can “make some history.”
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