ElGrandeAmericano has bridged the gap between the American andMexican wrestling audiences, but the character originally started as a rib on luchadores, withChad Gable under the mask. After suffering an injury, another ElGrande Americano would emerge, played by the former Ludwig Kaiser, leading to a high-profile Mask vs.Mask match at Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide's Noche de los Grandes.Sitting down for an interview on "Insight withChrisVanVliet,"Gable looked back at the genesis of the character and how it was all put together. "I was doing some stuff with some of the luchadores in, I think, like September/October [2024] ... as ChadGable, and I thought: 'Man, we can get a lot out of this,I think; a lot more than we already right now. We can turn this into something special,'" he recalled, confirming that he was the one who came up with the initial idea."I thought of this idea of, like, donning the mask, and kind of using it to insult their culture and get more personal with this," Gable further stated. Despite the character's intentions, the grander idea was the elevate the culture of lucha libre, not insult it, while portraying a heel figure that would elevate the babyface luchadores in WWE. Eventually, WWE creative officials began to collaborate with him, which Gable believes improved the idea even further.ElGrande Americano might have had ridiculous elements, but Gable claims it wasn't meant to be comedic and the character was created solely to generate heat. "I don't think we ever presented it as that and that was never supposed to be the intention," he explained. "Entertaining? Sure, but no it was never a 'ha-ha funny' type thing; I think it was kind of mean-spirited to jab at these [luchadores]."If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "INSIGHT with ChrisVanVliet," and provide a h/t toWrestling Inc. for the transcription.
