He finally did it after years of attempts. Chad Gable is now WWE Intercontinental Champion, winning his first-ever singles gold in WWE with a victory over Penta tonight. On what I thought was a very lackluster SummerSlam across both nights, I expected this to be some of the most solid in-ring work across the weekend. Thankfully, I was right, even though these guys could have got a few more minutes to go in the ring. By my timing, the match went around 11 minutes, which is alright, I suppose, especially when it comes to WWE booking these days.
They battled back-and-forth in a strong match, trying to put one another away early. The counters throughout the match were really strong, with Penta at one point nearly knocking Gable’s teeth down his throat with a kick to counter a moonsault. Gable threw Penta over his head at another point; I have no idea how to describe it otherwise, as Penta rushed him, and it looked great. Penta is excellent at Lucha things, and he’s also very good at selling. He also audibly told Gable he was “sorry” before he nailed him in the jaw with a big kick, which I thought was a nice touch with the whole story of respect we got in the build.
I wasn’t bored at any point of this match, which was really saying something this weekend. The men kept things going at an excellent pace, but not too fast with Penta’s high-flying offense, or too slow with Gable’s holds.
Gable countered multiple Mexican Destroyers, two into ankle ones, the final one that got him the victory. I don’t think Gable usually drops down to cinch in the hold tighter, usually, so him doing so tonight, with the loud “crash” of him falling to the canvas right before Penta tapped out, was a nice touch.
The super emotional celebration Gable got with his family in his hometown following the match was really cute, too. His son in the matching singlet was possibly one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen. It was really nice that he got his moment with them, and the celebration didn’t overstay its welcome when it came to the show’s overall pace, and probably helped further his babyface character in some ways. I’m really happy for Gable, and he’s got plenty of challengers, in Rusev, Ethan Page, Je’Von Evans, Dragon Lee, and more, on the red brand, to have a great run with the gold in the weeks and possibly even months to come.
Written by Daisy Ruth
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