The TNT Title match featuring Cody Rhodes and Sammy Guevara from AEW Beach Break has been given the hallowed five-star treatment by Dave Meltzer.
On the 26th of January Cody Rhodes and Sammy Guevara opened up AEW Beach Break from Cleveland, Ohio in a Ladder Match to crown the Undisputed TNT Champion. Issues arose with the TNT Title after Cody Rhodes was forced to miss his rematch at Battle Of The Belts against Guevara with The Spanish God taking on Dustin Rhodes instead to crown an interim champion.
The American Nightmare’s absence was not a long one and he was soon back on television with both men holding TNT Championship belts.
During Rhodes’ infamous promo on Dynamite where he lambasted everyone from reDRagon to NXT, he challenged Sammy Guevara to do what Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon did with their respective Intercontinental Title belts at WrestleMania 10 and hang them above the ring in a Ladder Match.
Guevara accepted the challenge and the two men set the standard for the night with an incredible match that saw some huge risks taken courtesy of the ladders at their disposal. Rhodes suplexed Sammy Guevara from the top of a ladder with both men landing hard in the ring before Sammy returned fire with a picture-perfect leaping cutter onto Rhodes that had the fans in Cleveland on their feet.
When all was said and done it was Inner Circle’s Sammy Guevara that managed to retrieve both belts and have himself declared as the Undisputed TNT Champion, bringing Rhodes’ third reign with the title to a quick end.
Now in his Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer has noted that he has awarded the bout a five-star rating. This makes it the second five-star match of Rhodes’ career following his 2019 bloodbath with brother Dustin while it is the first five-star affair of Guevara’s career.
The rating also means AEW as a whole has thirteen matches rated at five stars or above by Meltzer during the company’s almost three-year existence. That moves AEW only one five-star rated match behind WWE which has achieved 14 matches at that level since the rankings began.