Chad Gable Discusses WWE King Of The Ring And Pitching Ideas

– Chad Gable recently spoke to PWInsider about the King of the Ring tournament.

On Finding Out He Was In The Tournament: “It was a surprise to me too, my friend, I just, sometimes we find out when the fans do and I was totally fine with that. Because once I saw my name in there, I was very excited, as you can imagine. For a guy like me that is looking to break out and find an opportunity as a singles guy, I can’t really think of a better way, you know what I mean, than a tournament like this. And to bring back some of the nostalgia for the fans as well. And so far, I think they had been just doing this awesome job of, you know, putting on some of the best matches we’ve had on TV, on Raw, Smackdown in a long time. So, it’s pretty great.”

On Facing Andrade: “[Andrade is] one of the guys that I’ve kind of been looking forward to mixing it up with. You know, I knew him down in NXT, and obviously our styles are quite a bit different. He comes from a different background than me, but a lot of times I find that makes for the best matches. You know what I mean? And you look back in history, and a lot of great matches that happened between guys with similar styles that both of us. When you talk about guys like Rey Mysterio. The matches with Rey and Kurt [Angle], they’re are a lot of people’s favorite matches, and high on their list. And I think our styles are going to clash just perfectly enough to deliver just one of the better matches you’re going to see in this tournament. If not the best. I can’t think of an opponent that I’ve been looking forward to more to kind of tearing it up with then him, so it should be good.”

On Favorite King of the Ring Moment: “I know everybody kind of points to like the Stone Cold moment as being one of the famous ones. But for me it’s guys like Bret Hart, who went through the tournament and put on these various like different matches, you know, on that night, and like against different opponents with different styles. For me, as a fan of more the technical side of wrestling, and just the sports side of it, a guy like Bret is somebody that I’ll always look up to. And him just kind of charging through that thing like an athlete almost, you know what I mean? At the top level, was something that was, to me, really inspiring and just something I was drawn to.”

On Pitching Different Ideas: “…When Bobby and I were broken up when I got traded to Smack Down, I immediately went to Vince, you know, with character ideas, pitches for stories, and I made my own vignettes, explained Gable. “I made my own promos that I would bring my laptop in and show him. Just basically like begging, pleading, doing whatever I could to get something, get anything. And I wasn’t married to these ideas that I was giving him. I just wanted to throw as much at him and say, “Look, I’m open to anything. This is what I’ve got for you, but I’ll do anything you’ve got in mind because I’m ready to work. I’m ready to deliver for you, and so when I’m doing that, it shows them that I want to work, that I’m ready. And so when they come back to me with something, there’s no way I’m going to be a guy that is going to poo poo some ideas, you know, or anything that they give me. Because them offering me anything means that they want to invest in me, and to me that’s a compliment. And so I’m going to take that and I’m going to use it to its full advantage, whatever ideas they throw at me. And I take them all as a compliment and I’m ready. I’m ready for them to invest in me, and I can guarantee you they’re going to get back their investment. I will deliver.

“It’s hard, man. This place… you know, it’s a snake pit. You got to find a way to make your mark. And once [Jordan] went to do his thing with Kurt [Angle] on Raw, I was really excited to kind of have my chance to break out as a singles guy because I did fall in love with tag team wrestling down at NXT. Like, it was something I never thought I would kind of appreciate on the level that I’ve found myself doing. But we would just have so much fun and so much success at the tag team stuff. I always saw myself as a singles guy, and so when I finally got that chance, I was very excited and I had … some matches I was really proud of early on, with like AJ Styles and Rusev on Smack Down. And since that, you know, I’ve had a few matches with guys like Jack Gallagher even on 205, which is just opportunities I’m just trying to take advantage of.”