Chad Gable could have experienced the biggest setback of his career when he suffered a shoulder injury while portraying the original El Grande Americano character, but, thanks in part to Ludwig Kaiser and the creative surrounding the gimmick, Gable was able to come back better than ever. He and Kaiser wrapped their feud as competing El Grande Americanos during a mask vs. mask match at AAA Noche de los Grandes in May 2026, and at SummerSlam, a babyface Gable won the Intercontinental Championship.Gable spoke more about the injury, which he suffered during his Worlds Collide 2025 match against El Hijo del Vikingo, on "Insight with Chris Van Vliet." He said the way things worked out that led to the mask vs. mask match and everything that followed are "unfathomable to think about.""It's the kind of stuff you can't write even if you wanted to," Gable said. "It's just happenstance. To me, at the end of the day, it tells me, even more reason, I can stop believing in coincidence. Like, some things were just meant to be. Things were meant to play out a certain way, and that's out of our control. I'm no longer a believer in coincidence."He said that he was having what he would call the peak of his career right before he was injured. He was creatively fulfilled and doing a lot, but then, he said it all came crumbling down."It was one of those stories you hear about, where it's like, right at the peak, the bottom just fell out," Gable explained. "It doesn't get much more tragic for a guy like me, who values progress and achievement at such a high level.... It just all came to a halt, and I didn't have a choice at that point. I was told, 'This needs to get fixed.'"
Gable explained the injury happened at a point in the Worlds Collide match when Vikingo hit a move to his back, while his arm stayed in position on the ring apron, despite the rest of his body falling to the floor. He said he had never torn a muscle before, so he knew something happened, but the adrenaline carried him through that match, then the 2025 men's Money in the Bank ladder match later that night."I never gave it a chance to really settle in, because it was like, 'We got stuff to do here, man,'" he said. "Then, there was some pretty gnarly bumps in the Money in the Bank match, as well, that took their toll... Woke up the next day and man, I don't think I've ever felt that level of fragility that I felt the next day. Almost like any little thing I did, I was just going to ruin myself."Gable said the time spent at home following the injury was anxiety-inducing, but he had faith in all the people he talked to about what was in store for him. He said that the FOMO was real, watching Kaiser take the character he created and transform it, transcending into a success no one expected."What it did, fortunately for me, it didn't create any jealousy," he said. "It created just like, this competitive fire that I think, if you're coming up against me, it's one of my strongest assets, is my competitive fire. I'm not a hater. I don't look down on anyone else's success, but I will challenge you and I will try and be better than you."If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
