Late last night, after Rampage went off the air, Sammy Guevara tweeted this:
The GIF itself, of Jim Carrey at the end of The Truman Show, is pretty self-explanatory. Spoiler warning for an almost 25 year(!) old movie: Truman, whose entire life has been broadcast to the world as a reality show, ignores the entreaties of his “creator” and exits the controlled environment he’s always lived in for new adventures — and presumably some privacy.
Guevara has lived his life in the public eye for most of his wrestling career, and certainly since joining AEW in 2019. That’s mostly been by his own choice, and it’s probably been a net positive for his career. But it’s also led to controversy and backlash — for him and his new wife, Tay Melo. Interpreting this as a signal the former TNT champ has decided to stop sharing details of his private life, possibly by ending his long-running vlog, makes sense.
But… you may have heard there’s been a lot of drama at Tony Khan’s company of late. So The Truman Show GIF, in combination with changing his display name from Sammy Guevara to Samuel Guevara, blacking out his profile pic, and removing references to AEW from his social media? It’s going to get wrestling fans’ attention.
Especially when you combine it with his last tweet before last night. Guevara’s reflection on losing to Jon Moxley in the semi-finals of the Grand Slam Tournament of Champions read like a goodbye. It at least looks like a retrospective on his career at AEW, and the inclusion of a picture with ex-All Elite EVP and current WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes makes it easy to jump to a conclusion about where he might head next.
“I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start over again.”
We came up short last night, it is what it is, Thank you to everyone who has helped me get to this point. It’s been a hell of a ride. Where we go next we go with faith. pic.twitter.com/hz62oxIMPE
— Samuel Guevara (@sammyguevara) September 15, 2022
The idea of an AEW exit seems fishy. On his own merits and via his associations with Chris Jericho, Guevara’s kept a nice spot on the card throughout his various issues. A big match based on one of those issues was just announced for next Friday’s Grand Slam edition of Rampage, too. It would have been easy enough to just not promote that match is Sammy was on his way out.
But… getting people talking is a big part of a pro wrestler’s job. Whether it’s because he’s closing the book on sharing details of his off-screen life (with or without a gimmick change that ties into his quest for respect), promoting his showdown with Eddie Kingston in New York next week, or heading off to work for Triple H, Guevara’s recent social media activity got the job done.
So whatever Sammy Samuel Guevara is talking about, he’s just happy we’re talking about him.
