I Apologize
Chad Gable.
I don’t know if there are enough words to convey how much I adore this angle right now. Lord knows I’ll try finding them since they pay me to put words together
Chad, still on his road to making amends, spoke with Penta. He apologized for the disrespect and noted that El Grande Americano came out of him not being able to handle Penta defeating him. Penta accepted his apology and directed him to the Lucha who
needs to hear Chad’s words.
No, not Dirty Dom, much to his chagrin. But Dom’s deadbeat dad. Rey accepted the apology because he’s seen Chad’s actions and heard his words to everyone else. However, Rey reminded Chad his harsh words and harsher actions started long before he put on that mask. Chad’s apology tour isn’t finished. This is obviously about the Alpha Academy, right? Yes, of course it is. I figured that was the end of seeing Chad this week.
I was wrong. Penta and Rey put on an incredible match for the Intercontinental Championship. On a match filled with dope matches, these two stood out. If the match wasn’t enough drama, we got more after Penta’s gutsy victory over the legend. Rusev & Ethan Page attacked both men, which brought out Dragon Lee. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough fire in the dragon’s belly to extinguish the villains. With everyone trampled under foot, Rusev unmasked Rey. Chad rushed to the ring, with his old Alpha Academy theme, and cleared the ring. The man grabbed Rey’s masked, looked at it, kept looking at it, and finally handed it to Penta.
This is beautiful longterm storytelling. Think back to who this cat was a year ago. Think about the unbridled arrogance, or the disregard for anyone not named Chad Gable. He was a user with no respect for anyone or anything. He not only clowned Lucha Libre, but pro wrestling as a whole. It wasn’t just about Penta handing him an L either.
For months, Chad was an insufferable human being who turned on his friends the minute they no longer benefited him. He thought he was the cock of the walk. As Mr. Burns once said, he was cock of nothing. It’s not often we get a story about someone going from the bottom to the top then to what it takes to pull themselves up from hitting rock bottom. At least not with this earnestness.
Manolo often talks about heels earning their way back to face status. We see some of that with Seth Rollins as he faced facts about not having friends. But the road back for Seth never felt like this for me. His arduous path still came littered with championship shots, big matches, and no real moment of clarity. Even now, he and Montez Ford are cool. I’m not against that at all, just saying Seth’s trek to friendship with a guy who once cursed him out was much easier than anything happening with Chad right now. They’re making Chad earn it and everything involving him is all the better for it.
I don’t know what this means longterm for a guy who just turned 40 a few months ago, and doesn’t exactly fit the mold of someone like Roman, GUNTHER, Oba Femi, or the aforementioned Architect. I do know that I can’t wait to hear how an American audience reacts to him. If it’s anything like the ovation he got in Europe, Chad will become pretty undeniable.
He’s the best thing happening on either Raw or SmackDown right now. Words I never thought I’d find when I sat in this very spot so many moons ago criticizing the El Grande Americano gimmick.
B-Side
- Two things can be true at once: Oba Femi knows how to work a crowd and is awesome on the mic because I believe every word he says. Dirty Dom knows how to work a crowd and is awesome on the mic because I don’t believe a single word he says. Dom showed as Paris serenaded The Ruler, which turned a segment that planted the seeds for Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar III: Electric Boogaloo, into a segment about Dom and Oba’s upcoming King of the Ring bout. Dom swaggered in basically calling Oba a rookie with no accomplishments to his name; someone who pals in comparison to the “king of the luchadores.” Of course, this was all a distraction. JD McDonagh snuck up from behind with a chair in hand, hit Oba with it, but of course it barely moved the big man. Oba then hit the chair into JD. Seriously, they do such a great job making him look like a dominant beast, which is especially important as we work towards a rematch with the other Beast. My favorite moment came at the end when Oba told Dominik that while Rey Mysterio is his father, next week, he will show him who is his daddy. And props to Dom for yelling, “No he’s not!” when Oba mentioned Mysterio Sr. Hilarious. I cackled.
- Even in Paris, Corey Graves’ ESP works wonders. While we wondered in the Cageside offices why Liv Morgan is in the Queen of the Ring Tournament, he answered our question after Liv advanced: she wants it all. I can ride with that as far as the Women’s World Heavyweight Champion’s desire to add more gold to her shelf. But that doesn’t make sense why, in universe, either GM would allow such a thing. I liked the match between Liv, Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, and Chelsea Green. Liked it a lot. But Liv moving forward doesn’t make sense to me as of now. I know, I know, let them cook. It just doesn’t make much sense, nor does Liv need this. Unless they’re headed to a collision between Raquel Rodriguez and Liv, which will only foment the Judgment Day breakup that feels necessary right now. Thankfully, this seems like the thread Roxanne Perez is sowing right now. She’s as devious as she is conniving.
- “Screw your family!” LA Knight, never one to mince words, told Jey Uso exactly how he feels about the Bloodline. I get it. They made that man’s life a living hades longer than I can count. That came at the end of an awesome segment that put the spotlight squarely on LA. Seriously, this crowd helps everything. Would I normally think LA talking about not being Adam Pearce’s chosen one is worth this much space? Probably not. But the Paris crowd made it feel like the biggest thing on the planet. LA’s whole thing boiled down to whether the office chooses him or not, the fans chose him and, more importantly, he chose himself. So no matter who is in front of him, he’s determined to get that crown and handle his unfinished business against Roman Reigns at SummerSlam. It segued to Jey, who LA will face in a tournament match on SmackDown. That’s when the whole screw your family thing came up, so it’s not just some random words LA spoke for no reason at all. He’s arrogant, not psychotic.
- Two things about this segment. One, props to LA for breaking up Jey running it back with the crowd. This is a serious moment and I loved LA bringing us back to that seriousness when he told Jey he refused to stand there and just let that that happen. Two, I liked LA espousing his respect for Jey, specifically as it relates to how Jey sticks up for his family. And yet, screw his family. Jimmy Uso hit the ring to contain his baby brother’s temper but this thing stoked the fire for Friday. One more thing: LA’s Seinfeld reference hit the spot. Much like the grimace, nothing can stop the Kavorka.
- Je’Von Evans, you’re the next qualifier for the King of the Ring Tournament! Je’Von defeated Seth, Talla Tonga, and Ricky Saints in a chaotic Fatal 4 Way. Seriously, bodies were splayed. Je’Von’s win is the secondary thing here though. Earlier, Seth spoke about The Vision being a thing of the past and how they’re not the force they should be or were when he ran things. He wanted it to be one way but The Vision, or what’s left of them, showed him it’s the other way. When Seth put this match to bed with a stomp on Ricky Saints, Austin Theory pulled the ref out of the ring, which broke up the easy three-count. Bron Breakker speared Seth into Baltimore, which took him out of the match. That gave the opening for Je’Von to finish off Ricky with an OG Cutter. Montez helped out, too, but he and Seth are undermanned and overmatched. Does anyone step up to fill in for Angelo Dawkins?
- Speaking of Seth, he’s always the center of drama. During that same segment where he mentioned The Vision, he also mentioned Roman. Like saying Candyman’s name three times, that summoned The Usos and Jacob Fatu. Seth played his usual mind games, telling the boys how it’s sad they’ll never be anything more than Roman’s baggage handlers (shoutout to Scarface), and that Jimmy Uso should want more for himself since he’s not even in the tournament since that’s not what Roman wants. Jey & Jimmy told Jacob to handle Seth only for Jacob to…not. Son stepped to Seth, looked at him, then walked away. Jacob’s disobedience continues to move forward. He acknowledged Roman, not Jimmy or Jey’s “punk ass.” I suppose this is a way to keep Jacob hot while putting him in a position that could potentially neuter him. I hope it works because as I said before, this isn’t a guy built for following orders.
- Sol Ruca retained against Lyra Valkyria. Of course she did. Why wouldn’t she? This was another solid match that got drowned out for me amidst everything else happening. I liked the idea that Lyra came prepared to counter, block, or duck the Soul Snatch until she made one mistake that cost her. How does this affect her relationship with Bayley?
Raw is excellent. Maybe it was the crowd, but the whole show packed a ton of momentum. It felt like an on fire freight train speeding down a cliff with no end in sight. Everything flowed, everything meshed, and everyone played their parts well. Once again, give Europe every wrestling event from now until eternity. That’s all I ask.
What say you, Cagesiders? Is an Alpha Academy reunion in the works? Does that even matter to you? And what’s going on with Maxxine Dupri hanging out with the One-Eyed Vision? Is that even a thing still?
