Chad Gable recently appeared as a guest on The Gorilla Position for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling. During the discussion, Gable commented on how the heel turn came about, whether it was his idea or WWE pushed for it:
“A bit of both, you know, it was organic in a sense that once it got rolling, we kind of…you never really know what’s going to take off with our audience, you know. But I will say the whole idea to turn heel was kind of my idea. I felt like I flatlined as a babyface somewhere around WrestleMania. I came up short against Gunther a few times. Came up short against Sami [Zayn]. At a certain point, something has to change, or people are not going to buy into you any further. I had the idea, ‘Let’s do it.’ It just so happened we were going to be in Montreal, Sami’s hometown, the week after Mania when I was having that match. I was like, ‘There could not be a better place to do this thing.’ We made it happen, and the stars aligned. I feel like it’s worked out in our favor. Since then, Otis is this perfect sympathetic guy that you can’t help but feel bad for. We have everything in our favor working for us right now. And it’s great that the story is going so well. It’s amazing.”
On being able to show a more serious side of himself:
“I’m loving it more than ever. I think people see that too. You know, if you even ask Otis or my wife or somebody, I think this is, like, the most real version of me, as scary as that might be. I think the comedy stuff helped me in a sense that, like, it got my foot in the door in a way like our audience, you know, to let them take a peek that this guy is more than just a wrestler. And that was helpful in a sense that they bought into me then as a character side of it. So now they get a different aspect of that. And fortunately for me, like the most natural and real aspect, because I’ll tell you what, when I go out there and we’re doing, you need promo seg, or whatever it is, I don’t need anything. I don’t need any help. I just like I’m in the zone. I’ve never been so free and comfortable not searching for anything to say, not searching for my direction in the ring, or anything. It just happens. And it’s like, when you get to that point, man, it just feels like magic.”
Gable fell short when challenging Sami Zayn for the WWE Intercontinental Title at Clash at the Castle this past Saturday.
You can check out the complete interview below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
