Chad Gable: I Never Considered MMA, Amateur Wrestling Was My Segue Into Pro Wrestling

Chad Gable talks about his path to the world of combat sports.

Olympic wrestlers aren’t common in the world of pro wrestling, but they are often quite popular. Current stars like Ronda Rousey and Jeff Cobb have competed in the Olympics before, while a past star like Kurt Angle got a ton of fan support after making his Olympic background part of his in-ring character.

Another current star that has a Olympic background is Chad Gable. Before signing with WWE in 2013, Gable competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics, where he made it to the second round of the Greco-Roman style 84kg event.

While speaking to Fightful for a new interview, Gable noted that he never really considered any other path in the world of combat sports, citing that he was only focused on pro wrestling.

“I never really did. I wasn’t as big of a fan as everyone else was. I didn’t really follow it. I had watched the pay-per-views and we’d get together at training center and stuff and watch them, but it never resonated with me. I was a fan of pro wrestling since I was six years old, man. I was one of the tape traders in the 90’s and I still have my old collection. I was on all the message boards in the 90’s when they were first becoming cool. Real wrestling geek from the beginning, dude. That’s all I ever wanted to do. This is all I ever wanted to do.”

Gable went on to note that he was unsure if his wrestling dream would ever come to fruition, specifically because of the size issues that the business had for quite some time.

“Kobashi, Misawa. I used to make my own t-shirts and wear them to amateur wrestling tournaments. Like, we’re going to these amateur wrestling tournaments and guys are looking at my shirt, these guys in green and orange tights being like, ‘Those aren’t Greco Roman wrestlers.’ But it was cool. I’d get singlets made in their colors and try to emulate those guys. Pro wrestling was always my thing, man. Obviously back then the size thing was still kind of an issue. Everyone was still huge back then in the company, so in my mind, I was always too small for it. Wrestling also, let me not act like amateur wrestling wasn’t a passion of mine. It was my life for twenty years. It was what I also loved, but when there was a choice of, ‘Are you going to make it in WWE or should you keep doing this wrestling thing?’ The choice was pretty clear back then. It was my segue.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Gable talked about getting to work with his former tag team partner, Jason Jordan, outside of the ring. Click here to learn more.

Fans can see Fightful’s full interview with Chad Gable linked above.