Sammy Guevara was suspended by AEW on June 22 after vile comments he made about Sasha Banks on a podcast in 2016 surfaced. He returned from suspension on last night’s (July 22) episode of Dynamite in the main event segment.
Tony Khan spoke with Sports Illustrated about how the decision to reinstate Guevara came about:
“Sammy completed four weeks of extensive sensitivity training, and his curriculum included subject matters of tolerance, gender, race relations, and why people’s words matter. During his suspension, he was very contrite. I asked him to use that time to try and become a better person, and I think he did.”
“Sammy was off television for a month and suspended without pay for 30 days, and I think it was the right time for Sammy to come back because he’s shown that he’s very sorry and that he can change. He’s spent every day over the past month trying to prove that.”
“I meant what I said about re-evaluating his status with the company based on his conduct. Sammy needed to make a lot of strides to keep his job and make amends for stuff he shouldn’t have said. None of us knew he said those things, and it’s stuff that was years old, but that doesn’t make it right.”
“The Women’s Center of Jacksonville put out a very nice statement about how this terrible situation has turned into a positive. Sammy completed the entire curriculum we put out in front of him. He was clearly committed to change.”
One thing that’s a little off with this situation is that last night’s episode of Dynamite was taped last Thursday (July 16), so AEW technically brought Sammy back less than 4 weeks into the suspension. How is it possible that Guevara completed four weeks of extensive sensitivity training before Khan re-evaluated the situation and decided it was okay to reinstate him for the July 16 taping?
Outside of that, the rest of Khan’s response sounds like what you would expect to hear. He explains a few details on Guevara’s sensitivity training, says he believes that Guevara is contrite and made strides to learn from his mistake, and they are ready to move forward.
What do you think of Khan’s explanation about reinstating Guevara?