Chad Gable talks winning IC title, El Grande Americano, mask match, AAA, and more

WWE Intercontinental champion Chad Gable sat down with Chris Van Vliet in Minneapolis, Minnesota to discuss his Intercontinental Championship win at SummerSlam, becoming El Grande Americano and the epic mask vs. mask match in AAA, now hitting the prime of his in-ring career, wrestling Kurt Angle, being Penta’s first WWE opponent, the rumors that Ludwig Kaiser might be the other El Grande Americano, why he hired fitness coach Jay Ferruggia to help with his diet and workouts and more!

I’m fascinated by the idea that if this thing doesn’t happen, then this other thing can’t happen after that. You’re probably not in this position now, if not for your shoulder injury. It’s crazy that it took an injury and then being away to put you on the trajectory that you’re on now.

“The amount of circumstances that led to the mask versus mask match, and then the ensuing things that happened after that are just almost unfathomable to think about at this point. The way they lined up, to your point, it’s the kind of stuff you can’t write even if you wanted to. It’s just happenstance. It’s just, to me, it tells me even more reason that I can stop believing in coincidence. It’s like some things were just meant to be. Things were meant to play out a certain way, and that’s out of our control. I’m no longer a believer in coincidence.”

Things were building for you, and then you got injured. So what are you thinking in that moment? Are you thinking I may never get back to this again?

“Yes, I would say right before I got injured, I was having what I would call the peak of my career. I mean, creatively as well. I was just so fulfilled. I was doing all this awesome stuff. I got to wrestle like twice in one day in LA that day on two epic shows.”

So how did the injury happen?

“So I was wrestling Vikingo at that World’s Collide show, and I had my arm posted on the ring apron. You could see a point in the match where he’ll do a 630, insanity, to the floor on me on my back, and my arm was posted in a way on the ring apron. When he came down on my back, it also stretched my arm, but my arm stayed where it was, and I could feel it. I felt it. I’ve never torn a muscle or anything like that before, so it was new to me. So I knew something happened. Obviously, we do the match. Adrenaline carries you through, and then it was just a fully cortisol-filled day because I had to run across and do that Money in the Bank match as well. So I never gave it a chance to really settle in because it was just like we got stuff to do here, man. Then there was some pretty gnarly bumps in the Money in the Bank match as well that took their toll. Had a steak with my mom and dad that night. Probably a glass of wine. Went to sleep. Woke up the next day, and man. I don’t know that I’ve ever felt that level of fragility that I felt the next day, almost like any little thing I did, I was gonna just ruin myself, like super fragile. That’s when I knew something was wrong.”

How long did they tell you you’d be out for?

“Six months was the rough estimate, and I think I was ready in four and a half, certainly ready by five, but probably four and a half.”

So then, when you get injured, how do you find out that the character is going to continue, but it’s not going to be you under the mask?

“I watched it play out, and on a weekly basis, grew more and more competitively driven to come back and take my character back. At the same time, really kind of grateful for the new Grande carrying it on the way he did, because who knows what would have happened to that character had it just been forgotten until I came back. It may have gotten lost in the shuffle. We may have never got back to any point of importance. So, all credit in the world to him for not just keeping it alive, because he didn’t just keep it alive; he made it thrive.”

Have you heard the crazy rumor online that El Grande Americano might be Ludwig Kaiser?

“Ludwig? I don’t see it. I haven’t seen him for a while, but I don’t see it. The internet’s a wild place!”

So when you do return at the Royal Rumble, you have this great moment where it’s El Grande and El Grande facing off, and you do the Spider-Man meme.

“Yeah, we had to. Super cool moment, just to finally meet face to face, especially having that be my official comeback. Yeah, it was awesome, and it was a great starting point for us to paint that picture that we’re going to be headed down the same path, collision course towards each other, and we both, I think in our heads had a very, very special intention for this story.”

What do you feel when people say that mask versus mask is the match of the year?

“I mean, what we do is subjective, right? It’s the highest compliment to me that people think of it in those terms. I always try to not focus so much on the accomplishment or what I’ve done, but the process and the journey, who I’m becoming in this process, and what’s next. So it’s great. It’s really nice to have these compliments, especially I think some of the highest compliments I was paid were from my peers. That told me not how great the match was, but the way it made them feel that reminded them what they loved about wrestling growing up. It made them feel the way they did when they were kids. That to me is the highest compliment because that’s what I’m seeking in wrestling now is to feel the way I felt when I watched Macho Man and Warrior at WrestleMania six with all the drama with Miss Elizabeth and all these things, and that’s the kind of stuff that fueled me to want to do this. So if I can give that to other people, then I feel like I’m really doing my job.”

Do you feel like it’s for sure the best match you’ve ever wrestled?

“I think it was the most dramatic, and I think I could say it’s the most dramatic match I’ve ever wrestled.”

As we sit here right now, you’re the Intercontinental Champion. What did that mean? Winning that at SummerSlam and in your hometown.

“Man, to your point earlier about the circumstances and all these things lining up to lead to one thing. Imagine none of this would have ever happened the way it did without the injury and all these things. That’s why I say I don’t ever believe in coincidence anymore. Because, oh, it just happened to be that SummerSlam was in Minnesota this year. I just happened to have this trajectory that led me to my singles. There’s no way it was meant to be. I’m confident of that, but I’m also super grateful to a degree that I can hardly describe. It’s the little kid in me got to experience everything he ever wanted that day. A victory like that with your family ringside is almost indescribable, what that can do for you, the six-year-old or seven-year-old version of you that used to dream about this stuff at night, your goosebumps and tears in the ring, and importantly, you got to show your kids firsthand, up close and personal that you really can chase down and accomplish these things that you want.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSO6HoXa55Y