Road to AEW on TNT Episode Two Previews Cody vs. Sammy Guevara
The second episode of the Road to AEW on TNT is online, which takes a look at the Cody vs. Sammy Guevara match which will kick off the show. You can check out the full video below for the episode.
The episode kicks off with a graphic remembering 9/11 and then launches into an interview with Sammy Guevara who talks about how he realized early in the business that local wrestling isn’t enough; you need to be seen all over the world. He says his problem was that he wouldn’t always get matches and used his vlogs to make a name and get footage out there. He says the videos have helped him in getting people to understand who he is, and then talks about the videos taking off. Guevara says the videos are therapeutic as they show him how he affected people in the crowd. He says the politics of wrestling are stressful, but when you’re out there you can make a difference in people’s lives.
Guevara said a couple years in, he was in a rut feeling stuck in Texas. He needed to get out and show the world what he could do and tried several different things. “You can’t keep talking,” he says. “Eventually you’ve got to shut the f**k up and put some action into those words” and that’s what he’s been doing for the last nine years. He says he doesn’t care if he’s losing money taking nine hour buses to Pittsburgh or Mexico, because it was opportunity. He says when he got the call from AEW, it was life changing and what he’d really worked for. Guevara says the work is just now beginning and that his destiny is to be the World Champion. He ultimately wants to be remembered as a kid who tried, who said he wanted to do it and did it. He mentions how Cody said he has potential, which just means to him that he’s “not now.” He says the potential line irks him and that he feels overlooked by Cody, who he’s facing in AEW on TNT’s debut. He points out how much Cody’s dealing with and how he’s not Cody’s focus, while it’s his life. He says he has 100% of his focus on Cody and he doesn’t care if people count him out because the world is about to find out that he’s the best ever.
We then go to the AEW Control Center with Tony Schiavone, who previews the Inaugural Women’s Championship match on October 2nd. He also talks about Britt Baker’s feud with Bea Priestley and how Priestley cost Baker the Casino Battle Royale match, saying both will be watching the Riho vs. Nyla Rose match.
Schiavone then looks at the Cody vs. Sammy Guevara match and shares a video of him interviewing Cody. Cody says that the debut of AEW on TNT is a lot of pressure, but it’s the pressure you want. He says the series of events in the situation has combustible where everything had to happen to bring them to now. He says it’s exciting and it’s the pressure he always wanted, that he didn’t know he wanted to be at the helm of a major wrestling company going on TNT. Schiavone asks about him wearing two hats as a performer and producer. Cody says he can share some of that pressure with the other EVPs, and that if he was asked what is going to separate them from everyone else, it’s that they’re listening to the fans. The wrestlers and company want to lead the audience, but sometimes the audience can lead them.
Schiavone asks about Cody’s match with Guevara and Cody says he knows what he has in his mind heading for his title match with Chris Jericho at Full Gear. He says he’s not the kind of guy to overlook anybody, and the last thing he wants is to get embarrassed on TNT’s debut. Cody vs. Guevara will be the first match on the show. Cody says he’s not overlooking Guevara and that he could say Sammy’s full of potential and someone they want to see grow. However, he knows Sammy hates that. Schiavone points out how focused Sammy will be, and Cody says it really is his chance and the implications are clear to him: if he loses to Sammy, he’s not going on to face Jericho at Full Gear. If he loses, that changes the title match and if Jericho loses in Philadelphia, that changes the title match because they’re honoring wins and losses.
Schiavone asks about the World Title match and whether Cody’s position as EVP has influenced him getting the title shot, and if it’s an issue. Cody says it’s easy when you’re underappreciated and the underdog and undervalued, and that’s the chorus of discussion around you. That was his story, he says, and that the moment you “put on the Yankees hat” and become the guy who’s winning, the chorus goes away. So he can’t tune into that. He says it’s a shot at the World Championship and because he’s part of the company’s infrastructure, there’s no way he’d ever turn that opportunity down. He says they’ve talked about the history and pressure and how it’s a crazy time to be a wrestler and wrestling fan, and obviously the big question for Tony is, he has all the history. He asks Schiavone if he’ll be returning to the desk and calling matches with Jim Ross. Tony says “I don’t know, you’re the boss. You tell me.” Cody looks at the camera and says, “You see me wink?” as he does just that.
