Chad Gable details how The Undertaker helped his WWE career
The Undertaker recently helped Chad Gable come to a realization that’s made his career much easier.
Ahead of SummerSlam, Gable spoke with KFAN in Minnesota and reflected on his time competing for Lucha Libre AAA as Original El Grande Americano. That culminated with Gable losing a mask vs. mask match to Ludwig Kaiser (El Grande Americano) at the end of May. Though his run in Mexico is over for now, it taught Gable lessons that he’ll be able to use for the rest of his career. The Undertaker — a leading voice behind the scenes in AAA — taught Gable how important it is to treat everything you’re doing like it’s real. When you approach wrestling with that mindset, everything comes more naturally.
“You know, it’s wild because I’d say the biggest revelation I had was last month after I did this mask vs. mask match in Mexico. That was one of those ‘it clicked’ moments for me during my whole story in Mexico,” Gable said. “But that’s like 13 years into my career, right? And so I had all these little breakthroughs along, and you can be this far into your career and still all of a sudden just realize things. It’s wild about that.
“And Undertaker I think is responsible for a lot of that. Because he was helping out down in Mexico, what we’re doing down there. And he’s the one that finally got through to me, like the idea of just stop thinking so much and just treat it as if it’s everything you’re doing is real. Like, as if you’re going out for an amateur wrestling match. Take that mentality into the fight. And when it worked and it clicked, I was like, ‘This is so great. It makes it so easy.’ You don’t have to think about a thing. You just go out and do your thing and live in the moment. And like I said, that was just like a month ago I came to that realization. So, it’s crazy.”
Chad Gable praises lucha libre fans —
Playing the heel in the Americano vs. Americano feud, Gable was taken aback by just how much passion and respect fans in Mexico have for wrestling. There were times where he legitimately felt a little scared, but Gable loved the energy they brought.
“It blew me away. The level of hate they had for me, it was a little scary at times,” he said. “You hear guys tell stories about the old territory days where like, ‘Oh no, we had real heat, they wanted to kill us.’ Man, there was times where it felt dangerous down there. And also I had little kids shouting things at me that I’m like, ‘You should not be saying that.’ [laughs] Like, they would have me go out and they would shoot arrival shots of us showing up to the building, you know? And I’d walk through the crowds — not planted or anything — they would just send me out through them, and people were putting hands on me. Like, pushing me and grabbing me. And I loved it, because I’m like this is as real as it gets with us nowadays.”
Gable said it felt like he was going up against an entire country while wrestling in Mexico. At SummerSlam, Gable will have the hometown advantage when he challenges Penta for the Intercontinental title. The PLE is taking place at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on August 1-2.
If Gable is victorious at SummerSlam, it will be his first singles title win in WWE (aside from the Speed Championship).
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.