AJ Styles Says Chad Gable Is a Bigger Star Post-El Grande Americano

AJ Styles is a big fan of the mask vs. mask match at AAA Noche de Los Grandos and thinks Chad Gable is a bigger star now. Gable, working under the El Grande Americano mask, lost to El Grande Americano II at the AAA show and was forced to unmask as a result.

The match was acclaimed by most wrestling fans, and Styles spoke about the bout and story leading up to it on his Phenomenally Retro podcast. He noted that the story captivated fans and praised both Gable and Americano II’s work and said that if WWE doesn’t capitalize on Gable’s crowd reactions now then they’re “dumb.” You can see highlights below:

On the Match:

“You enjoyed AAA for the main event. I would say it was because the story that has been built up for so long, and everything that happened
before that match. Was it going to happen? Are we going to have [the] Grande Americanos wrestle, because we don’t know.

“And then we get it in exactly the match that we want. And it wasn’t just you [that was] excited; it was the whole arena that wanted to see that match. And it delivered because they finished the story. That’s important. The story was the most important thing.

On Gable & Americano II’s Work:

“And I mean, you’ve got Chad Gable and El Grande Americano. Two guys I’ve been in the ring with personally, and I know they can go. I enjoyed working both those guys. So they gave us the match that they were more than capable of doing and told the story and finished it at the same time. The mask was removed from Chad Gable’s face, a blooded one by the way… I mean, that’s what you want to see.”

“I’m so proud of those guys because again, you get put in a gimmick. Chad Gable got put in a gimmick that he probably wasn’t excited about. And then — I’m trying not to say his name, but obviously yeah, we know who it is. We know who it is, but I’m just gonna keep it alive. El Grande Americano gets put in this position because Chad Gable got hurt. And so now there’s two El Grande Americanos, and they did such a fantastic — and by they, WWE and Triple A did a fantastic job of getting this story over.”

On the Concern That Gable May Lose His Push Out of This:

“You’re worried about something [Shorty G] that is long gone. That was a Vince era of things, I think. But you got to remember he was playing double duty. He was doing double duty as El Grande Americano and Chad Gable. He was doing both, which is a lot. I think that had to do maybe his shoulder getting damaged because of that.

“So I think he’s a bigger superstar than he’s ever been at this very moment. And if we don’t capitalize — and I say we, because I’m part of WWE — we don’t capitalize on this, we’re dumb. We’re dummies.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Phenomenally Retro with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.