Chad Gable Reveals The WWE WrestleMania 38 Match He Wants Most
During the latest episode of WWE After the Bell with Corey Graves, The Alpha Academy joined the show to talk about their run as RAW Tag Team Champions and feud with RK-Bro.
On this past episode of Monday Night RAW, we saw the first ever "Quiz Bowl" between the two groups as the final stage of the Academic Challenge, which RK-Bro won to earn themselves another shot at regaining the Tag Titles. During the show, we also saw Chad Gable receive his first televised pinfall victory in nearly two years on Angelo Dawkins of the Street Profits. Having yet to have his own WrestleMania moment, Chad Gable spoke about why he'd like to have that rematch at WrestleMania rather than the Elimination Chamber, and what his and Otis' goal is for Mania 38.
"I think it looks, to me, like giving them their tag team title rematch at WrestleMania for me," Gable said. "Because as it is with any superstar in WWE, your goal is to have that moment on WrestleMania and to get your match. I've never come close to that. Not only have I not come close, there are years where I just haven't even been on.
"That was last year, the year before, and there's almost nothing more frustrating or debilitating than peaking because I still treat it like a big amateur wrestling tournament, WrestleMania's our end of the year so I'll get myself ready, get in better shape, mentally prepare better because it's our big event. To do all that work all year and not have it pay off or not feel like it paid off is so frustrating. It's almost like a mission this year to make it happen more than ever, and I feel Otis feels the same way."
Having been partners for over a year, Chad Gable spoke about the pairing of him and Otis, and what the initial goal was of forming the tag team. Gable also spoke about getting his Masters's degree during the pandemic and adding that cockiness to his character while teaming with Otis.
"The whole idea here of putting us together and us teaming up was I can get him to be a little bit more serious, I could elevate him a little bit in that tone and get him away from this old character," Gable said. "The whole time, not really thinking how can he do the same for me and kind of bring out my personality, and maybe we can mutually benefit from this relationship as a team. It just wasn't happening and we were stagnating for so long, it's not like we wanted to. We want to flourish, everybody does.
"But it just so happened that I had gone back to school, used the pandemic and some of the extra free time to go back to school and get my Master's Degree. I finished that up in October and I would mention it in backstage promos but nothing serious. It was just dropped in here and there but I started thinking in my more downtime that this can work. This can be applied to the character I'm already doing with Otis to bring him up and I don't need to do it in a way that's genius, over the top, everything doesn't have to be 'I'm the smartest guy.' I can just be a part of who I wanted to be and who I was in the past, and weld it together."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE After the Bell with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.