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When Chad Gable confirmed that he recently inked a new deal to stay with WWE, he talked a lot about Triple H being a factor in his decision.
That wasn’t surprising, as Gable’s creative direction has never been better than it has been since Haitch took full, unfettered control of WWE creative. “Shorty G” is long gone. Instead, the former Olympian has been allowed to show off what he can with a character and in the ring as he’s chased the Intercontinental title, bullied his Alpha Academy team, and — as seemingly as a result of that last thing — found himself in Uncle Howdy’s crosshairs. This weekend, he’ll compete in his first Money in the Bank ladder match.
In an interview this week Cheap Heat’s Peter Rosenberg, Chad gave a few other reasons for re-signing rather than testing the free agent waters.
“This is where I want to be. I’m like a loyal guy, right? So, I start somewhere I want to finish there. If I start something, anything, I want to finish it. I’m just so happy and fortunate that the idea of finishing it now looks different than it would have a few years ago, which would have just been like fulfilling my contract would have been finishing it because I wasn’t really doing anything. Now, finishing it means accomplishing things, winning championships and leaving a real legacy.”
Ideally, Gable want that legacy to involve passing on his experience and knowledge to the generation coming up now:
“I’ve done some reflection. I’ve done some reflecting about what [re-signing] means for me — not just professionally or financially, going forward, but what I want it to mean to me. I’m getting older. This business is interesting.
“If you would have told me in high school when I started this, that I’d be hitting my peak when I was 38, I would have said you’re crazy. How do you wrestle that long? But here we are. When I evaluate what I want my legacy to be, or part of my legacy, I want to step into more of a leadership role going forward, locker room-wise.
“We have a lot of young talent coming up with guys from NXT. We have guys like the Creeds, who are these incredible athletes. Everyone has seen their athleticism. They haven’t necessarily had the guiding light for them to show them the other stuff and the other side.
“No one needs to teach them how to be strong and athletic. They have that. I couldn’t teach them that. I think I’m the type of guy that would be good in a leadership role and I would have a lot of value, especially to the people that WWE and NXT are interested in, which are people with sporting backgrounds and making that jump from amateur athletics with the NIL deals.
“I think there is a big chance for me to step into a nice leadership role and help those guys whenever I can.”
Gable’s proved recently that there’s a lot more he can bring to the table for WWE as a performer. His comments here make it sound like that’s just the start of what he can contribute to the company, and the business as a whole.
Check out Peter Rosenberg’s entire conversation with Chad Gable here.
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