Chad Gable details surprise over 2025 shoulder surgery
In the first episode of a YouTube series documenting his 2025 shoulder injury, Chad Gable shared how surprised he was to learn that he would need to undergo surgery on his left rotator cuff.
Gable documented the injury, surgery, and recovery process so he would have something to do while out of action. He’ll be uploading the series over nine parts. In the first of those, he shared that he suffered a slight tear of his right biceps tendon during a house show match against Gunther in 2024. He continued wrestling and kept training in the gym, but his right arm kept getting worse. He decided to get it checked out and had an MRI done.
The MRI did find that Gable’s right arm was “a mess” — but the bigger issue was his left shoulder. Gable had been having nagging injuries in that arm so he had imaging done on it too, which revealed that his left rotator cuff was torn and surgery would be required.
“It turns out all this time I was so worried about my right side — and the left side was the one that had all these issues, to my surprise. I got this news that the rotator cuff was torn,” Gable said. “This knocked me off my feet bad. I’m the type of guy that expects to go in and be told that this pain I’m dealing with is like, ‘You got some issues, but it’s nothing that requires surgery.’ That’s what it’s always been, through amateur wrestling all the way through my time with WWE, I’ve never been seriously hurt. And they went on to explain to me essentially that it had to be fixed. A torn tendon off the bone is not going to repair itself.”
Because he’s never been hurt like this before, Gable had a hard time accepting his injury. The timing was especially hard because Gable felt like he’d been having the best run of his career with matches against luchadores like El Hijo del Vikingo, Dragon Lee, and Penta.
For the documentary episode, Gable recorded conversations with WWE colleagues Sami Zayn, Bayley, and Finn Balor, who all stressed how important it was for Gable to enjoy this time off, spend time with his family, and not feel guilty about taking the type of extended break that wrestlers rarely get.
Chad Gable’s return —
Gable was forced out of action last summer but returned in January 2026. Though he was worried about the timing of his injury, he’s done some of the most highly praised work of his career since his return, feuding with Ludwig Kaiser in a feud between Original El Grande Americano and Kaiser’s new version of the character.
Moving forward, Gable can no longer use the Americano gimmick after losing to Kaiser in their mask vs. mask match. It took place in Mexico at AAA Noche de Los Grandes last weekend and stands as a strong contender for Match of the Year 2026.
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.