Sometimes it’s just fun to see someone deserving get a chance to have the spotlight on them. Win or lose tonight on WWE Raw in Quebec City, that applies to Chad Gable when he takes on Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship.
Gable has been superb in his current run as the teacher in Alpha Academy, mentoring Otis and now Maxxine Dupri as well. His “shoooosh please” and “thank you!” catchphrases have really caught on — it’s impossible to do a media availability with him now without several outlets asking him to do them.
But while he’s an entertaining performer who has fantastic comedic chops, Gable is first and foremost a wrestler’s wrestler. He’s made it clear he’s always ready for WWE to give him a chance to go get it as a singles competitor, and that’s exactly what this program with Gunther is allowing him to do.
Will Gable win the title tonight? We’d be surprised if that was the case, given how long Gunther has held the IC belt and what a great champion he’s been. But we wouldn’t be completely shocked, and that’s a testament to how we feel about Gable.
Speaking of people we’re happy to see shining again, The New Day is back in business now that Kofi Kingston has returned. They’ll provide a nice test to see if Matt Riddle and Drew McIntyre really should stay together as a tag team as Riddle is pushing the Scottish Warrior to consider.
Plus, in one of the more meme-worthy moments from last week’s episode of Raw, Shinsuke Nakamura whispered something to Seth Rollins on his way out of the ring that made the World Heavyweight Champion look like he’d seen a ghost (and left him open for another attack from behind). Shinsuke is supposed to reveal exactly what that was in Quebec City, though it’s almost more entertaining to let our own minds fill in the blank.
All this and more keeps us rolling down the road to Payback in less than two weeks. Check it out live on USA at 8 p.m. ET, or join us back here at Wrestling Junkie tonight for live Raw results and other goodness.