Say what you will about Chad Gable’s El Grande Americano character, and I know there is a lot to say from those who loved it and others who hated it, but I am simply just glad that one, it’s wrapped up for the most part, and most importantly, two, WWE decided to do something with all that Gable has done over the last year. I fully expected the company to just throw him back into the mix of things, as a babyface all of a sudden following his mask-vs-mask match at AAA Noche de Los Grandes, with absolutely no explanation.
I expected some kind of cheesy “Oh, wow, look, it’s Gable, we haven’t seen him in X amount of months!” kind of line from Michael Cole, though, after Gable’s apology to Rey Fenix on “WWE SmackDown” on Friday, the story thankfully started to look like it was going to be more than that. Gable is now on an apology tour, and while WWE will never acknowledge that the gimmick initially had gross, racist undertones, at least Gable, the character, is apologizing for his actions.
On “Raw,” Gable apologized to Fenix’s brother, Penta, and admitted he completely lost it after losing to the luchador during his debut match and was a coward. He also apologized to Dragon Lee and Rey Mysterio, with Mysterio telling Gable that he needs to look back further and work on himself, as he had done things he shouldn’t be proud of even before he put on the mask.
It’s that line from Mysterio that has me hoping that WWE isn’t pivoting to making Gable the savior of lucha libre now that he’s returned. He helped Lee make the save when Ethan Page and Rusev attacked Penta and Mysterio following their Intercontinental Championship match. When I saw the spoiler, I initially really liked that, but I didn’t expect Mysterio to be unmasked. I didn’t necessarily love that part of the story tonight, but I suppose it made some kind of sense to bring Gable out there for that, to return the mask to the WWE Hall of Famer.
I didn’t mind that because of Mysterio’s line earlier in the night, and I hope WWE creative is smart enough to go this route. A luchador was unmasked in the ring, Gable helped out, returned the mask, and now his lucha era is over. He can move to then make things right from his past, more than likely meaning making good with Alpha Academy’s Otis, Akira Tozawa, and Maxxine Dupri.
Written by Daisy Ruth
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