Chad Gable is one of many Superstars to fare much better in WWE since Triple H took over. When Vince McMahon was calling the shots, it was clear he didn't take the former Olympian seriously...and at WrestleMania 38, that was on full display.
Gable was part of a match for the RAW Tag Team Championships alongside Otis. They faced RKBro and The Street Profits and, after Randy Orton and Matt Riddle pinned Gable to retain the titles, they celebrated with Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson.
WWE signed him in 2021 and had high hopes for a former amateur wrestler the company kept in its developmental system until his release this May.
When an unhappy Gable confronted Stevenson, he was humiliated by him during a brief exchange; however, there are no hard feelings on the Alpha Academy leader's part. In fact, he just saw it as his own WrestleMania moment.
"[It was] my first WrestleMania match, when he was being introduced. My mind was on the fact that I had finally earned my spot on the show, on WrestleMania," he explained. "I was so proud and so happy about that, and happy for Otis. My mind was, ‘I’m on Mania with Randy Orton. This is great.'”
"The fact that they were bringing [Steveson] in, and I was involved with him in his first appearance. He came in the ring after I lost, threw me around. The reality was, I wasn’t upset by any of that. None of that bothered me."
"I looked at from his perspective and I was imagining myself in his shoes thinking, ‘I wouldn’t want to be you right now. There is so much hype surrounding you, and you haven’t even started training yet. This is your debut. It’s on WrestleMania,'" Gable continued. "Everyone kind of wants that, but you better deliver. This is their first look at you."
"There was no animosity or real jealousy. I went out of my way to work as well as I could with him, welcome him, and offer whatever advice I could at the place I was at at the time. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for him. Some guys, that’s just how it is. You kind of have to get a taste of it to see if it’s for you. It’s certainly not for everybody."
"Amateur wrestlers are trained to do the complete opposite of what we do in WWE."
While Stevenson struggled to make that transition, it's something Gable has excelled at...even when he was turned into "Shorty G" by Vince McMahon (who appeared to find his 5'8" height hilarious).
"If you want to say the Shorty G period where I would consider that one of my low periods," the former Tag Team Champion admitted. "That was a rough one to get through, it's a rough one to kind of bridge the gap and say I can do this one too."
"I can make it through this one because sometimes it doesn't seem like there's light at the end of the tunnel. I have a wife and kids that can kind of level me out when those things happen and put things in perspective. I think that's the whole key to it all is just perspective."
Triple H has found a place for Gable on RAW, with all signs pointing to him creating a new faction with The Creed Brothers as The Wyatt Sick6 continues to take aim at him.