Chad Gable and Alpha Academy have quickly become one of the highlights of WWE Raw every Monday night on the USA Network. With his loud shoooooooshs, bulky sidekick Otis, and up-and-coming protege, Maxxine Dupri, the Olympian seems to finally be putting all the pieces together when it comes to his WWE presentation.
On the July 21 episode of WWE Raw, Gunther smugly made the claim that Gable could not last five minutes in the ring with him. What followed was Gable not only accepting the challenge but also going the distance, creating a memorable moment in the young star’s career and jumpstarting his feud with Gunther. In an exclusive Haus of Wrestling interview conducted during SummerSlam week, Gable reflected on that bout.
“I didn’t want to do that,” he confessed. “Like, in my head. I’m like, ‘I just want to do a normal match.’ But then the people were eating it up and being able to count along and count down with it and everything. It’s like, this is the kind of stuff I live for, man. I’m falling in love with it.”
As Gable conceded, once the five-minute match with Gunther was underway, the crowd was solidly in the palms of both men’s hands. Had the match not gone so well, it is hard to believe that we would be where we are today, with Gable handing Gunther his first main roster loss courtesy of a count-out.
“Especially on a night when I didn’t expect it because we were all focused on her (Maxxine Dupri) big debut,” Gable continued, talking about the five-minute challenge match. “To get thrown in there with The Ring General, who I’ve been told by so many people, ‘Oh, we want to see you wrestle Gunther. That’d be such a good match.’
“And personally, I know that, and I want it, but to just get to do it out of nowhere, and you saw the result. It was like maybe just a taste of what could possibly come out of a bigger match with a little bigger build and stuff, which I’m hoping we get to here, or I’m planning on getting to.”
Because Gable defeated Gunther by count-out this past Monday night, he was unable to capture the WWE Intercontinental Championship. WWE’s next major premium live event, Payback, takes place next weekend, and it is possible Gable gets one more shot at the title on that show before the leader of Imperium surpasses Honky Tonk Man’s long-standing IC title reign record.
My full conversation with Alpha Academy’s Chad Gable, Otis, and Maxxine Dupri can now be found on the Premier Streaming Network as well as the Haus of Wrestling YouTube channel and podcast feed.
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