8 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Feb 10)

3. Sammy's Out

So Sammy Guevara is out of The Inner Circle. Here's how it all went down.

'The Spanish God' approached MJF for a private chat early on, accusing him of trying to take the stable over. Ever the manipulator, MJF goaded Guevara into saying "... I hate Chris Jericho," capturing it completely out of context on a cell phone recording. When Sammy realised he was being recorded, he threw the phone against the wall and punched Maxwell in the gut.

MJF tattled on Guevara to Jericho, because of course he did.

The Tag Team Title contenders then worked a solid television match with The Acclaimed, whose rap bars were on point this week ("I should get a shot at the diamond ring, unless you wanna be my sunshine and sing"). MJF played up his "broken ribs" throughout, selling them whenever it worked to his advantage, but proved himself a team player with Jericho. Their cooperation was on point as Jericho leaned over the top rope and grabbed MJF's arm for extra leverage on an abdominal stretch, and they won when Jake Hager pushed Max Caster off the top rope and into the Judas Effect (in truth, this was a little clunky).

Afterwards, Sammy joined The Inner Circle in the ring, made good on his promise to leave if anything ever happened with MJF again, and bounced. Meanwhile, 'The Salt of the Earth' smirked.

This was on the money. MJF's deal, throughout all of this, has been about weaselling his way into Jericho's favour by replacing Guevara as 'Le Champion's' chosen prodigy. With Sammy quitting the stable, he's now right there. His power has grown to a whole new level. There's also potential for a full-on feud with Guevara, who looks like a smart newly-turned babyface for being the only guy who truly realises what Max is up to.