The Sammy Guevara & Sasha Banks Controversy, Explained

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• Sammy Guevara is someone who seemingly cannot escape a whole manner of different controversies, despite only being still quite young in terms of professional wrestling. One of the most controversial stories about him came out a couple of years back in relation to comments he made about WWE’s former multi-time Women’s Champion, Sasha Banks. This led to an uproar amongst fans which led to a suspension and a lot of publicity. It seemed as though things had been settled between the pair, but in terms of Guevara, this wasn’t the end of his controversy, as he has been at the forefront of real-life heat both on and off-screen.

During the Speaking Out movement in 2020, a social media movement against emotional, physical and sexual abuse in the professional wrestling industry, comments AEW wrestler Sammy Guevara made about Sasha Banks came to light. In 2016, 3 years before his signing to AEW, Sammy Guevara appeared on an episode of the Whole F’N Show Podcast on January 25, 2016, and upon the re-emergence of those comments, a storm ensued.

UPDATE: 2022/11/03 11:00 EST BY Andrew Kelly

Sammy Guevara is someone who seemingly cannot escape a whole manner of different controversies, despite only being still quite young in terms of professional wrestling. One of the most controversial stories about him came out a couple of years back in relation to comments he made about WWE’s former multi-time Women’s Champion, Sasha Banks. This led to an uproar amongst fans which led to a suspension and a lot of publicity. It seemed as though things had been settled between the pair, but in terms of Guevara, this wasn’t the end of his controversy, as he has been at the forefront of real-life heat both on and off-screen.

AEW Suspended Sammy Guevara For His Awful Comments About Sasha Banks

In his appearance on the podcast, he talked about his experience working at a WWE tryout. While at the tryout, Sammy made an abhorrent comment about Sasha Banks. On the podcast, Sammy said, “Bro, Sasha Banks; oh my God. When I was at the WWE the other week I wanted to just go f****** rape that woman.”

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Upon news of the disgusting audio resurfacing, Sammy Guevara made an apology on social media in two (since deleted) tweets, although they are still documented by f4wonline.com, "I've made stupid, inappropriate, and extremely offensive comments in my past. In my idiotic mind, I thought I was being funny in using words and terms that represent nothing but horror and pain. I am truly sorry for my hurtful words and actions, and I will never forgive myself. I also want to apologize to [Sasha Banks] for my unacceptable comments. She's an amazing person who didn't deserve to be the brunt of my offensive remarks. I spoke with her earlier & she helped me learn a gigantic lesson & I thank her for that. Once again, I'm sincerely sorry."

On June 22, 2020, AEW suspended Sammy Guevara without pay upon news of the incident, and Sammy was ordered to undergo extensive sensitivity training. AEW posted this statement, "AEW insists on doing our part to create a world of understanding and respect for humankind. We therefore strongly condemn the extremely offensive and hurtful words of Sammy Guevara. Sammy has agreed to undergo extensive sensitivity training and, upon completion, his future status within the company will be evaluated."

Sasha Banks Responded To Sammy Guevara's Comments

Sammy Guevara also privately apologized to Sasha Banks and Sasha Banks gracefully responded to the incident on social media. Posting a lengthy statement on her Twitter account, with the main points stating she spoke with Guevara, whom apologised, with the pair engaging in an "open discussion". Her statement later issued an important messgae' "We have to hold ourselves accountable for our actions and the words we say, and I hope this situation shows him that. I hope from this point on, in order for growth and change within our community to take place, we all can continue to have these conversations. No person, man, woman, or child, should ever be subjected to a feeling of fear, or any unsafe environment. We all have to do better not just for ourselves, but for generations to come."

Sammy Guevara’s suspension lasted one month before making his return to AEW TV on July 22, 2020. A year later on May 6, 2021, Sammy Guevara opened up about this incident on Talk Sport radio, discussing the controversy and his time in sensitivity training. “The Sasha stuff, they were bad comments on my end from years ago. Just immaturity and I’ve grown since then. That was my whole thing to last year when I did the sensitivity training; I don’t know everything and I’m not going to pretend like I do. So when they said we want you to do this training I was like you know what, let me look at it from a silver lining perspective. I can probably learn stuff from this and I did learn some stuff. That’s what life’s about. No one is perfect, we’re human. And humans make mistakes. I feel like when you make mistakes it’s important that you learn, grow and go on. Because life is just going to keep going. Jericho is the man, though. He helped me a bunch in that time and all the controversies that have happened throughout my time [in AEW].”

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Guevara gushed about the respect he had for Sasha Banks following the incident. “Such respect to Sasha, because I’d never even talked to her before and that was the first time. Unfortunate circumstances. And she could have buried me or whatever, but she was hearing me out, we had a civil discussion. So I have nothing but respect for her, she is killing it right now. Wish nothing but the best for her.”

Sammy Guevara's Reputation Since Those Comments Hasn't Improved Much

Following the incident, Guevara would return to AEW in pretty much the same position that he was in prior to the controversy, and he would eventually receive a babyface push despite the negativity surrounding him due to his comments about Sasha Banks. Whether it was due to Banks herself coming to discuss the issue, or whether fans had genuinely made the call to forgive Guevara’s stupidity, he had crowds rallying behind him on his way to becoming the TNT Champion in AEW. However, due to Guevara’s relationship with Tay Melo, fans began to turn on him as their onscreen relationship came across as unlikeable.

RELATED: 10 Ways AEW Has Gotten Worse Since The Promotion’s DebutFrom there, the dislike for Guevara has only risen and risen, particularly after several backstage incidents involving fights with the likes of Eddie Kingston and Andrade El Idolo. Guevara can’t seem to escape stories in which he is at the heart of controversy. Even if he wasn’t at fault in those fights, his reputation is one which doesn’t serve well to having subsequent events in which he is having fights and getting bad press. It is hard to know whether or not Guevara truly felt remorse, though it is important to not judge on that, even if many made the decision to not forgive his actions.

On Twitter, comments can often be seen in relation to the situation between Guevara and Banks, meaning that certainly some fans haven’t forgotten and likely will never forget. Gaining spotlight and putting comments out there in this day and age of media is something that will come back to bite people, and that was the case with Guevara, whose poor judgment and bad words have led to him garnering a less-than-favorable reputation.