Kip Sabian vs. Sammy Guevara

[6.0] "Pretty good pre show match that showcased some of the younger guys on the roster, one of the better Kip performances and Sammy hit some nice stuff. 6.5"

[7.0] "Honestly a well worked, solid, and occasionally exciting match. Only thing holding it back from being truly great is that is that it's a meshed weirdly heel vs heel matchup with two guys sporting pretty similar styles so it's hard to get the crowd fully behind either of them. Good spots here though."

[5.0] "Crazy how both guys are doing fuck all now. Sammy has weird selling throughout and I can't get into him at all. Kip is cool tho"

[5.0] "Kip Sabian was pretty good in this match but my main critique was Sammy Guevara's weird selling. He gets kicked in the face and walks backward in a straight line while staring up at nothing and chewing gum. I know he improves in the future but this match as much as I wanted to love it felt a bit incomplete to me. A shooting star onto a propped up Sabian did look pretty cool though."

[8.0] "A great match between 2 athletics wrestlers. For the first single match in AEW, it was not dissapointing at all, both of them did great job and spots inside and outside of the ring were impressive. I hope that I will see more of them in the future."

[5.0] "Watching the back, to prepare for my youtube review in 2026: So wild to see the first ever singles match in AEW and it has two men still with the company"

[7.0] "This is the first singles match we got in AEW history and it was a good match, nothing fancy, and it allowed two newer stars to a bigger platform the chance to show and introduce something newish."

[6.0] "Nice to re-watch this and see the Sabian actually did have a lot of potential, thought he was pretty good here and Guevara was good as well. Understandably hard for these two to get the crowd on their side and that definitely holds the match back. 3 stars"

[6.0] "A pleasant second match between two agile heavyweight wrestlers. It too belonged on the main card, or nearly so. Interesting also to see that Kip Sabian is the first winner of an AEW 1v1. In-ring quality: 2/4. Stakes: 0.5/2/ Justification: 0.25/1. Place on the card: 1/1. Suspense: 1/1. Bonus/malus: none. Total: 5.75/10. Match seen on AEW Plus."

[7.0] "A pretty good match especially for a buy-in match. Both guys clearly had something to prove and did their best to shine without upstaging each other. That shooting star press on the barricade was insane. 7/10."

[7.0] "Two young guys putting on a high paced matchup. The suplex to the outside and some of the high spots were impressive. Did get sloppy at times during the match. First AEW singles matchup and it went well."

[9.0] "Almost a perfect match, was nicley paced, lots of nice high spots, and their style did mash well together. Although again who was supposed to be face and who was supposed to be face? Crowd ddin't react much with either cheers or boos.And also I do have a problem wit cameraman missing Sammy's Suicide dive"

[6.0] "This match was decent, but both guys looked a little sloppy. Kip looked like the bigger star, so it's funny who ended up more involve in the company going foreward."

[5.0] "The first singles match in AEW history and it was completely fine competent wrestling match. There were some cool high spots such as the suplex outside of the ring, but there were also some sloppy moments. An unexpected winner considering the trajectory of these two since this match. Both guys came out of this looking pretty good but with a lot of work to do in the character and personality department."

[6.0] "I thought this was a solid bout for the first singles match in AEW history. These seemed to be two young guys that had big futures lined up for them in AEW; funnily enough the one that has gone further is the loser here. Kip's colour scheme on his gear was awful here; I'm glad he changes his look up. Seeing how Sammy carries himself here and how punchable he is from the start it isn't surprising how he is soon in the Inner Circle. There's some cool spots in this match; the one that sticks out in my mind is when Kip Sabian did a shooting star with Sammy draped over the barricade. Kip Sabian ends up getting the first singles win in AEW."

[7.0] "First singles match in AEW history and it was enjoyable enough. Sammy hadn't yet found himself but I recall thinking Kip was pretty solid, though I've lost interest in him since then."

[6.0] "It was pretty good with Guevara busting out some cool high spots, but there were some sloppy parts too. Sabian was impressive with his selling and that was a good finisher for the win. (**3/4)"

[7.0] "It was a nice match a lot of good action some insane moves There was one point where Sammy was in a leg lock and he didn't really show any of the effects after. Other than that it was a nice showcase for both of them."

[7.0] "The first singles match in AEW history and it was the perfect match to start with. Both Sammy and Kip were being introduced to a more mainstream audience and they both looked very impressive and but on a very good debut match."

[7.0] "This was a good match and an important match too, this is the first-ever AEW singles match. The spots were great and it was a good high-flying match."

[7.0] "I've been following AEW since the beginning, and it's only now that I realize that I hadn't noticed this match yet. Anyway, this match was good, but I'm sure they could have done better for the first ever single match in AEW history. But it was still good, Sammy Guevara and Kip Sabian are both very charismatic, and they are very good in the ring (even though Guevara is better than Sabian). ***"

[6.0] "Really enjoyed this match and thought it would propel Kip Sabian to potential stardom. I still think Sabian could be a big deal, but alas. This was a solid match between two of the more intriguing up-and-coming wrestlers in the industry. Both are capable high-flyers, but also skilled enough between the ropes to keep it there. Would really like to see them revisit this one now that fans are back in arenas and both have had time to grow."

[5.0] "Some nice spots, but I think that there was not any real flow to the match. Still good for history reasons, the first match in AEW history."

[6.0] "The match was really cool, the jumps pretty impressive, the two have great chemistry together and I can't wait to see what they do against other workers."

[5.0] "This match was largely fine, but the spotfest they were trying to put on never really clicked with me. It never kicked into that second gear and the chemistry never really seemed to flow nicely. I liked the suplex spot out of the ring, and the shooting star press on the apron. A pretty good representation of what this company's matches will be like."

[6.0] "First singles match in AEW and it was decent and exactly what you would expect from Sabian and Guevara, a high speed, high action crazy spotfest."

[6.0] "The first solo duel in history AEB and the wrestlers really tried to make a little show out of it. The fighters withstood quite a dynamic pace of the battle and my estimate is ***1/4."

[4.0] "The first ever AEW match and... it is adequate, kind of like the promotion itself (neither largely successful nor that failure some bitter guys say it is), but at least helps both young guys getting over. *3/4 - **"

[6.0] "This was an enjoyable cruiserweight match and a choice note to start on as far as AEW singles matches go. This was my first exposure to Sammy Guevara (well, as a performer; I'd actually seen him back in 2017 through an intro plug on a Wrestling with Wregret video), and his persona definitely entered AEW fully formed. Hearing the commentators put over the since-abandoned "win-loss records will matter" conceit was amusing in retrospect. Sammy's shooting star press off the apron to Sabian over the guardrail was a choice spot. He goes for the 630 in his hubris, but Sabian gets his knees up and puts Sammy into an Argentine to hit the Deathly Hallows. ***1/4"