Sammy Guevara Recalls Introducing Himself To Vince McMahon

AEW star Sammy Guevara was on a recent episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast, where he discussed his short time competing in WWE. Guevara competed on dark matches, his first being a tag match with Laredo Kid against Los Matadores. Guevara talked about how generous Primo and Epico were, and the reactions to the match afterward.

"Primo and Epico – they were my first dark match. It was me and Laredo Kid, and those guys were so not selfish at all," Guevara noted. "They let us do a bunch of stuff. I was thinking it was going to be just like a squash. I remember, they were like, 'maybe you can give me something really cool here,' and I'm like, 'can I do a shooting star leg drop?' thinking they're going to say no because that's too cool, and they're like, 'sure, sure, but you got to miss it. Can you miss it?' Then my mind started thinking, like, 'what can I miss that's even cooler?' And I'm like, 'how about I do a 630 instead?' This is a dark match, like, the show is not even starting, and they're like, 'can you do that safely?' I'm like, 'of course, it's me. No big deal.' So I did it, and one of the cool moments is the ref that was there, he was counting the pin and I'm just laying there, looking up, just thinking how cool this is.

"And he's like, 'that was the best dark match ever.' One-two-three, and then I think it's Primo, he's like, 'hey, thank you, man.' And I'm in my own head at this moment, like, wow, this is so cool. And then he's like, 'hey, bro, thank you.' I'm like, 'oh s–t. Thank you, man. Thank you guys,' as I'm like rolling out. He thinks like I'm an a–hole for a second, like, I'm telling this kid thank you and he's not even responding."

Guevara noted that he was not signed nor given a tryout. He spent two years doing extra work whenever WWE came by Houston, TX. He told a story about taking a chance and deciding to meet and introduce himself to Vince McMahon in his office.

"Nothing really came too much about it," Guevara admitted. "I did extra work many, many times, and then eventually, I just kind of saw, like, OK, this is how they see me right now. And that's fine. It's up to me to go out and make a bigger name for myself. So, one of the last times I was there, just because I was like, screw it, like, I've done extra work many, many times, I got to do something else. I had the idea of: I'm gonna go to Vince's office. I was like, screw it, I'm gonna go to Vince's office and at least introduce myself. I've never met this dude, been coming here doing an extra work for the past two years, and so, I go up to the door.

"First, it's always crowded. I was thinking, like, there's no way it's going to clear up. It does clear up. I'm like, oh, I gotta do it now. My heart starts racing, I get up to the door, and then I'm about to knock, and I'm like – I could still just leave. But no, I knock on his door and then I hear a loud, 'come in.' And I'm like, I could still just leave. So, I open the door and Vince is not there.

"There's some dude on a computer. There's Road Dogg, and I'm just looking around like, where is Vince? I just heard this loud, 'come in.' This is literally like several seconds of just like looking around confused, and Road Dogg's kind of just looking at me like, 'what the hell is this guy doing in here?' And so I realized, I got to say something now, so I go, 'hey, my name is Sammy Guevara. I've been here many times, and I came here to meet the boss man himself, and yada, yada.' I do my whole little schpiel, and then Road Dogg, without saying a word, gets up out of his chair, walks close to me, like up in front of my face without saying a word...

"My heart's racing, and he goes, 'the balls on you kid. Wow, I like your moxie. Vince isn't here today but I strongly recommend you do this the next time we're here', because I did that on a SmackDown taping."

Guevara did later meet McMahon, as he took Road Dogg's advice to try his leap of faith again. He talked about McMahon and Triple H's reaction to his attempt to introduce himself.

"So, the next time we were there, I was like, screw it, because I was prepared for that to be my last one," Guevara said. "I was like, you know what, one more time. And then I do the same thing, knock on the door. This time, Triple H answers the door, and I'm like, this was not part of my plan. I do my shame little schpiel, and then he opens the door a little bit, showing Vince. And he didn't really open it for me to come in.

"He did it kind of just to show Vince, and I just squeezed myself through that door. I go up to Vince, I shake his hand. I do my schpiel to both of them. I'm like, 'just want to let you all know, I'm going to make this business a lot of money.' And Vince kind of chuckles. He's like, 'what was your name?' I'm like, 'Sammy Guevara.' He's like, 'well, nice to meet you Sammy,' and Triple H opens the door. And they tell me, 'alright, well, good to meet you.'"

Guevara admitted that he thought he would get kicked out, but instead, he later got a tryout. Guevara has spoken about his tryout before, saying the experience made him not want to sign with WWE. He reiterated those same points on AEW Unrestricted.

"I was fully expecting to get kicked out. I already Googled movie times to watch Spider-Man. That was in the theaters at the time. And so, I went back to the extra locker room," Guevara explained. "My bags are already packed, and I was like, 'yeah, any minute they're going to come here and kick me out.' They never did. Nothing came from it except I ended up getting a tryout later on that year.

"I ended up getting a tryout. It didn't work out exactly. When I was at the tryout, too, I saw a bunch of things where I was just like, this is not where I want to be right now, or maybe ever. I just saw kind of how things were done. I'm like, man, if you're not a model or a football player, it's kind of like, screw you. So I was like, nah, I don't want to be here right now."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit AEW Unrestricted with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.