Chad Gable knew the match had worked before the finish, and he says the moment he knew was a quiet one.
Asked by Cody Rhodes on What Do You Wanna Talk About whether he could feel the reaction to the mask versus mask match in AAA, Gable said he went in expecting a lot and got more.
“Going into it, I had high expectations, but I can certainly say it delivered beyond those.”
He explained the framework he uses for it, which comes from having gone to art school.
“We were always taught you can have critical acclaim, or you can have commercial success. You don’t really always get everything. You can’t always have it all. Very few people get that.”
The moment it landed for him came near the end.
“There was a moment right towards the end, and we were there. The rest was cakewalk, and I saw the blood dripping down from my head, and I looked around at the mat, and it was just soaked. And I heard the people, and there was that quiet, almost quiet calm. They were ready for it. They were ready for the crescendo.”
“When I felt that, it was like, we did it. We’re there. We created the magic that so many people have told me about over the years that’s possible to create, and that I’ve experienced as a fan, as a young kid. Like, we did it, we made it. It was almost like a quiet, serene, it’s here.”
The response afterwards
Gable said the reaction from inside the business was harder to take than the match.
“To have that kind of match where it was not only critically, but it was praised by everybody I talked to, and to a point where it made me uncomfortable. Like, I don’t seek that kind of thing, but I talked to so many people, and then they would talk to me in person, and I would be sweating because I’m like, I can’t deal with this. It’s too much. People were being so complimentary.”
“But it was nice to hear it from my peers, the people that I value their opinions and seek their respect above all else.”
One thing in particular stuck.
“To hear some of my peers say that that match reminded them what they love about wrestling and what made them fall in love with it was just one of the most humbling and gratifying things to hear about it all.”
The match took place at AAA Noche de Los Grandes on May 30 at Arena Monterrey, with Ludwig Kaiser’s El Grande Americano beating Gable’s Original El Grande Americano. Gable unmasked afterwards and identified himself.
