Chad Gable has finally opened up about one of the biggest misses of his WWE career. After fans spent months believing he was on the verge of dethroning Gunther and winning the Intercontinental Championship, Gable has admitted the entire situation left him frustrated because, despite doing everything he could to make the story work, it simply wasn’t in his control.
Speaking with Cody Rhodes on What Do You Wanna Talk About?, Gable revealed he wasn’t just showing up for TV every week and hoping the story continued. He said he started making his own vignettes, pitching himself through his work and doing everything he could think of to convince WWE there was still more left in the rivalry. For a while, he believed he could work his way into becoming the guy who finally beat Gunther.
“You have a very unique rivalry with GUNTHER. Talking about singles titles, all of that looked like it was heading toward you becoming Intercontinental Champion or competing for the title at WrestleMania. I don’t want to speculate… but you, again, still standing. Elton John style. You were not all, ‘Woe is me.'”
It never happened. And listening to Gable now, it sounds like that’s because the ending fans wanted may never have existed in the first place. He admitted he doesn’t even know whether beating Gunther was ever in WWE’s plans, no matter how much momentum the rivalry built or how much extra work he put in behind the scenes.
“He was the first guy that I had mixed it up with for any length of a program, and we had some chemistry, man. So I wanted to go all in on that. I made some of these vignettes on my own, and I was doing everything I could. And it didn’t pan out. Would I say I was surprised that it didn’t? I don’t know if that was ever the plan. I was still in the mode that I was just trying to do what I could. I had no one telling me, ‘Here’s the plans, here’s what’s gonna be in the pipeline for you.'”
That’s the part that stayed with him. For years, Gable believed hard work could eventually force the outcome he wanted. The Gunther rivalry was the moment he realized WWE doesn’t always work that way. You can have the crowd. You can have the chemistry. You can even have one of the hottest stories on television. None of that guarantees the finish you think you’re building toward.
“I think I took it as far as it could have been taken at that time. I accepted that. Frustrated? Yeah. But it was one of those moments that was clear to me: you don’t control everything here. You can’t just work your way into success. It’s not like amateur wrestling, where the harder you work, you see results. It doesn’t exist like that. And that’s fine. I had to come to terms with that, and I have now.”
Instead of Gable finally slaying The Ring General, WWE went in a completely different direction. Sami Zayn ended Gunther’s historic Intercontinental Championship reign at WrestleMania 40, while the rivalry many fans thought was destined for that stage quietly became one of the biggest “what ifs” of the Triple H era.
Should WWE have stayed the course and let Chad Gable end Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship reign? Let us know in the comments below.
