Chad Gable has turned to the dark side. Following an unsuccessful challenge at the WWE Intercontinental Championship, Gable attacked titleholder Sami Zayn as WWE Monday Night Raw went off the air, suplexing him out of an embrace with his wife at ringside. Social media promptly exploded with anticipation of Gable’s new attitude, pushing for him to adapt elements of WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle’s “wrestling machine” heel persona from the mid-2000s. WWE appears to be leaning into this as well, as Gable is reportedly set to get his own “Team Angle”-style stable of amateur wrestlers in the form of Julius and Brutus Creed.
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Kurt Angle Praises Chad Gable’s New Attitude
The Olympic Gold Medalist sees a lot of himself in Chad Gable.ย
Speaking on The Kurt Angle Show, Kurt Angle noted he sees Gable pulling from “the Kurt Angle formula” for his current persona.
“The Kurt Angle formula worked the first time, the Kurt Angle formula will work today. I have noticed. I’ve been watching Chad. He’s doing a lot of actions that Kurt Angle used to do,” Angle said. “Different characteristics, different facial expressions, taking off the singlet before he does his finish, he’s been doing the Angle Slam [and] the Ankle Lock.”
Fans have been drawing parallels between Angle and Gable since Gable first burst onto the scene in NXT. The two have shared a couple moments on screen together, including a brief singles match against one another in March 2019. During Angle’s infamous illegitimate son storyline in 2017, Gable was once one of the names that WWE floated around to be revealed as his child before ultimately going with Gable’s tag team partner, Jason Jordan, for the spot.
Years on from those moments, Gable has found a stable spot on the WWE card and stands as one of the most popular stars on the WWE Monday Night Raw roster.
“I feel like this is a rebirth of Kurt Angle. He’s doing a great job of it, too,” Angle continued. “He has really stepped up and I don’t know if I could have done it any better than him. He’s doing really good right now.”ย
Gable, alongside his Alpha Academy stable (Otis, Maxxine Dupri, Akira Tozawa), was selected by the red brand as part of the 2024 WWE Draft and will continue to compete on Monday nights for the next calendar year.
