Posted on 10/08/126 by Colin Vassallo
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.”