Sammy Guevara causes the first backstage problem for the AEW/Impact partnership

Canada’s Slam Wrestling reported it first - Sammy Guevara was supposed to work last week’s Impact tapings in Nashville. It would be a continuation of the angle on the Feb. 10 Dynamite where Guevara quit the Inner Circle.

Chris Jericho is said to have come up with the idea. Impact’s first pitch for how to use Sammy was rejected, but Tony Khan signed off on their next idea. Guevara seemingly wasn’t okay with it, however, and went to Impact about it. When executives there let Jericho and Khan know, Jericho reached out to Don Callis at Impact telling him to nix the angle. The veteran also told Sammy to turn around and come back to Jacksonville.

Slam’s report claims there’s heat on Guevara at his home promotion and tension between AEW and Impact as a result of what happened, but later reports deny one or both of those things.

PWInsider says things between AEW and Impact are “golden”, but they don’t dispute the notion Khan & company are unhappy with their young star. Insider adds that Guevara was supposed to fly to Nashville the day before he was scheduled to work Impact, but re-booked his flight to arrive just hours before the taping. The site reiterates that both sides had agreed to Sammy’s creative, but he “began texting Impact officials about alternative ideas and ‘not wanting to do what was agreed to.’” Impact then cancelled his appearance and used the recently debuted Black Taurus to accomplish what had been written for Guevara. Insider doesn’t delve into the details of what happened after that; instead they just refer to the Slam report.

Over at Wrestling Observer, Dave Meltzer’s sources also tell him Impact opted not to use Guevara after he questioned the plan for him. This version differs on where Sammy stand, saying “at this point, there is no significant heat from anyone on either side.”

More will almost certainly come out about this in the days ahead, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see a reference to it on Being The Elite or Sammy’s own vlog.

Whatever happened, it’s a bummer, as the Spanish God heading to Impact after leaving Inner Circle would have been a cool use of one of AEW’s partnerships. It’s also an early example of the challenges faced by every promoter and wrestler involved in the opening of the Forbidden Door.