Sammy Guevara break-up news leads to yet another example of internet bullying

On Saturday (Dec. 18), AEW’s Sammy Guevara shared the news that he and his long-time girlfriend and recent fiancée had split up.

Guevara made a public announcement, and the wrestle web covered & discussed it as news, since “Sammy and Pam” have long been featured on his VLOG. Their engagement was incorporated into his feud with Shawn Spears on Dynamite. It’s an unfortunate situation, but so far, it was being handled as well as it could.

People gossip, and we tend to be judgmental. It’s probably as bad for the mental and spiritual well-being of those doing the gossiping and judging as it is for those being gossiped about and judged, but railing against human nature isn’t going to stop the chatter.

With the internet, this prattle isn’t just happening in tabloids and at barber & beauty shops — it plays out in ways that it’s hard for those being talked about to ignore. Worse yet, social media allows the subjects of gossip and judgement to be called out and targeted.

That’s where the Guevara story got ugly. The volume was turned up on whispers some had already been exchanging about Sammy and his AEW & VLOG co-star Tay Conti, which caused them to spread, which resulted in Conti deactivating her Twitter account. Though it gave her some measure of control and hopefully brought her some peace, the Brazilian wrestler leaving Twitter gave the story an infusion of life, and she and Guevara continued (and continue) to trend on social media.

It prompted a second statement from him...

... and a comment from Conti’s management:

Tay Conti’s Instagram

Though it’ll probably take another wrestling-related/adjacent topic to come along to finally get Tay and Sammy’s names out of the “Trending” sidebar, hopefully these statements will encourage a few people to move along. Or at least find a Discord server or loosely moderated comment section to talk about other people’s business instead of just speculating about it in the virtual public square.

If you’re searching for a silver-lining to yet another case of internet bullying, I suppose it’s that Guevara and Conti seem better prepared to deal with this than past targets of unjustified criticism. If you’re dismayed that this is happening less than two years after Hana Kimura’s death, and despite countless pleas from wrestlers for fans to refrain from virtually attacking the real people who play characters on their favorite shows?

Can’t blame you for that.