Chad Gable recalls working in Mexico as ‘magic period’ of his career
Chad Gable has nothing but praise for his time working in Mexico’s AAA as El Grande Americano.
In the second-to-last match of the night at WWE SummerSlam 2026 Night Two, Gable defeated Penta to win his first WWE Intercontinental title.
Life comes a full-circle and it finally did for Gable in his hometown of Minnesota. Last year, in 2025, after losing to Penta in his debut match and then beginning a feud with luchadores, Gable began his own luchador arc when he embraced the El Grande Americano character.
However, following a shoulder injury and his return from it in early 2026, Gable began appearing in AAA in Mexico, where he started confronting Ludwig Kaiser’s El Grande Americano. The two began a feud that culminated at AAA Noche de Los Grandes in a critically acclaimed match.
Speaking at the WWE SummerSlam 2026 post-show following his title win, Gable reflected on his time in Mexico. “I call that just an absolute magic period in my career. It was like lightning in a bottle. The crowd down there, the fans, the people, the culture, they’re all really responsible for what you saw go on down there, because they put just as much into it as we did as performers.”
Chad Gable addresses shoulder injury that kept him out of action for months
Last year, just days after competing at AAA Worlds Collide and WWE Money in the Bank on the same night, Gable sustained a shoulder injury that kept him away for months.
Speaking at the WWE SummerSlam post-show, Gable reflected on that injury. “I had the match at Worlds Collide as Chad Gable, later in the day Money In The Bank as El Grande Americano. Time of my life, favorite day of my career. Shoulder injury right after that. I thought that was it. We were there, on the cusp; we had it, got cut off. But you never ever know. Then on the flip side, all those circumstances lead to the moment. It’s a cliché, and I do hate clichés, but really you have to stick with it. If you never give up and deliver on what you say and work your a** off, you’ll get what you deserve.”
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
Shounak takes particular interest in soccer, closely following top clubs like Real Madrid and Arsenal. Beyond sports, he enjoys fiction writing, photography, gaming, and cinema.