Minus-Star Match Reviews: Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara – AEW All Out 2020

I’ve tried to give AEW a chance many times but so far more often than not I’ve watched their shows and felt “this clearly isn’t for me”. With the exception of perhaps MJF there’s no one on AEW’s bloated roster to truly rally behind that isn’t either an ex-WWE guy or someone who made their name elsewhere and is employed under Tony Khan to make more money doing less. And while you might respect and appreciate the hustle that comes with that kind of work/pay arrangement, as a viewer you’re not always getting your money’s worth or any big return for your time investment with AEW.

Nowhere is this clearer than with the four guys wrongly labeled “AEW’s Four Pillars”. In one of the most laughable bastardizations of a name/concept in recent memory, only one of these guys – who were once pegged to carry AEW into the future – has done anything remotely positive and that’s MJF. The others, meanwhile, have all faltered to some degree. Darby Allin is still in the same spot as when AEW first opened: taking ludicrous bumps without rising up the card. Jack Perry is an unimposing and unthreatening little joke whose involvement in one of AEW’s biggest backstage blunders ever will overshadow pretty much whatever he does in his career.

And then there’s Sammy Guevara who…erm…has about as many suspensions and injured opponents to his name as the rest of AEW’s “Four Pillars” have singles titles between them.

Sammy’s time in AEW has been a mixed bag and today we look back at one of the earliest incidents that stained his reputation in the eyes of many fans. Many people consider this the worst match in AEW history which is a pretty bold statement given the material that covers. But is it true?

The Story

Matt and Sammy had been feuding for months, going at least as far back as Double or Nothing in May 2020 when they were on opposite sides in the mayhem-filled mess known as Stadium Stampede. Matt’s side won that match and the feud was paused for a few months while Sammy was suspended from AEW for disciplinary reasons. Sammy returned a month prior to All Out and attacked Hardy, busting him open with a chair. Matt retaliated a few weeks later by launching Sammy through a table and shortly thereafter a match between them was confirmed for the PPV.

But instead of starting with a singles match and to build heat and tension and thus extend the feud longer, these guys went straight for the finish and booked a Last Man Standing match instead. Straight to the point, I guess.

The Match

This took place on September 5, 2020.

This is a Broken Rules match, which is Matt Hardy speak for “Last Man Standing”. Initial shots of this match take place at the Jacksonville Jaguars’ practice field as opposed to in the ring. Matt comes out first looking for Sammy and cuts a promo that’s neither fully Broken nor normal Matt Hardy. Sammy appears driving a golf cart and the bell rings. Matt runs away and despite having a good 50 feet distance and despite the vehicle driving at a snail’s pace, Matt “almost” gets hit with it.

There’s some very lazy clubbing strikes and then Matt DDTs Sammy onto the top of a metal picnic table. Sammy gets up at three and then the two men brawl towards a mechanical scissor lift. They climb into the basket portion of it as the camera pans out to reveal a small table maybe five or six feet away. It’s pretty obvious what’s coming. Matt footchokes Sammy as he gets the scissor lift to rise. Sammy blocks a Side Effect from the lifted platform…and spears Matt off of it, missing the table almost entirely and CAUSING MATT HARDY TO HIT THE CONCRETE ON THE BACK OF HIS HEAD!

Referee Aubrey Edwards does the dreaded ‘X’ gesture just out of view as a replay shows Matt’s awful landing and as the commentators note “Matt is out”. Sammy stalls for a bit and then makes Aubrey begin her ten-count. Somehow, either out of instinct or sheer stupidity Matt gets up before the count and Sammy starts dragging him over, only to gently put him down a few feet away. Matt lands some of the most sluggish strikes I’ve ever seen a wrestler throw and Sammy staggers over. Matt tries something else but then he and Sammy both fall over like two drunks having the worst attempt at a fistfight you’ve ever seen. At this point Aubrey clearly makes the ‘X’ gesture again and a few officials rush over to separate the two wrestlers and end the match.

Initial Match Result: No Contest after 3:32

Sammy insists “this isn’t over” as Matt makes it to his feet. Despite Aubrey and a doctor sort of holding him back, Matt goes right into character and decides to continue. The camera pans to the commentators who keep insisting “his head bounced off the concrete”. In almost any other sort of context those words would generate horror and worry from people, but this is wrestling and, unfortunately, far worse has befallen its practitioners over the decades.

The camera pans to Matt making his way to the ring and right before Justin Roberts announces a final decision Sammy attacks Matt and the match continues. Matt DDT Sammy onto the concrete and seconds later both men are walking towards the ring. Matt smashes Sammy had-first into a trash can and then both guys “brawl” their way onto the stage. Sammy smashes Matt’s head into a lighting tower (as lightly as possible but still concerning given Matt just suffered a nasty landing on his head) and then both men climb the tower. Then a single forearm sends Sammy falling through some tables onto a crash pad. Aubrey makes it to the count of ten and the match is officially declared over.

Winner after ~5:33: Matt Hardy (Hardy keeps his job)

Review

This match wasn’t just bad, it was downright terrible. For me it was the point of no return for AEW’s laissez-faire mentality when it came to wackier matches and gimmicks. Even though there was at the most ninety seconds of movement that could barely qualify as “wrestling action”, what we got as viewers was silly, sloppy garbage. I’m guessing the idea was for this to be some big concession stand brawl filled with slapstick, WWE Hardcore Division circa 2001/2-inspired wackiness. But the match never got to that point. It started off nonsensically and went downhill from there. Somehow Matt managed to hit a big DDT onto a metal picnic table seconds into the match only for Sammy to walk it off seconds later. That should’ve been the big red flag for anyone watching to cancel the PPV, go to the bathroom, or take a shot of something potent. But no, it got even worse when Matt took a horrible bump that could’ve left him with brain damage or caused much worse.

Now, to be fair, that bad landing didn’t sound all that bad: I’ve heard worse watching wrestling. For example, when Kurt Angle had that famous hardcore match with Shane McMahon, the sound of Shane’s skull hitting concrete from only two feet up was far more gruesome than this. But there was something more violent and hazardous about this one compared to Shane’s. Here Matt landed on the back of his head instead of the crown of his skull which is harder and thicker. He fell from much higher and with far more velocity behind his fall. So even though the sound of the crashing table muffled the sound of his head hitting concrete, it’s clear that Matt suffered a much nastier landing here than in almost any other high-profile wrestling match from the past 25 years.

But what makes this whole thing even worse is that that awful spot happened about ninety seconds into the match. We have no idea how long the match was supposed to go but at this point it doesn’t really matter. These two guys thought it was a brilliant idea to hit a spear off an elevated platform through a table less than two minutes into the match. Did Matt Hardy forget every wrestling lesson he has ever learned? Did he abandon every sense of timing, pacing, build, and match structure once he arrived in AEW? Was this supposed to be the pro-wrestling version of an avant-garde artist abandoning rules and structure to create their own idea of what is “correct” in their art form? While the reason behind this decision might never be revealed, we can conclude that it was stupid. It helped cement this as a massive disappointment and a huge blemish on Hardy’s record. He was supposed to be the veteran setting the example for AEW’s rising stars and this was what he came up with?

As if that wasn’t enough, this match also had a negative impact on Sammy as well. If we presume for a moment that this was either real or at least somewhat believable, then Sammy lost to a guy who may have suffered minor brain damage. All of the bumps Sammy took in this match don’t come even remotely close to the damage Matt took yet Sammy still lost because he was booked to do so. Even with this very clear violation of kayfabe Sammy still had to lose the match because AEW booked themselves into a corner with the whole Matt must leave stipulation. By losing how he did to someone who clearly wasn’t all there in the moment Sammy came off as pathetic. He didn’t look all that menacing beforehand but after this match he came across as though he were made of glass. That’s the last possible perception you want out of your rising stars but that was how Sammy left this match.

Final Rating: -****

Even if you take out the moral aspect of Matt continuing the match despite being hurt, there wasn’t a single redeemable thing about this match. It had nothing good going for it. There was nothing exciting about seeing two men hit sloppy strikes and land moves that looked either highly cooperative or somehow delicate and protective. I suppose credit is due for Matt persisting like a champ and Sammy at least trying to salvage this as much he could, but there’s a fine line between bravery and lunacy and Matt crossed it by continuing the way he did.

The only reason I’m not going the full minus five stars is because it would be unfair to do so since this match was ended abruptly given an unforeseen mistake. But if the six minutes’ worth of motion we did see were any indication of what this match was going to be, then maybe we should be glad that it was cut before it could go any further.

Thanks for reading.