Seth Rollins Hails Chad Gable’s Remarkable Rise Among Wrestling’s Elite

Seth Rollins has praised Chad Gable’s evolution into one of the sport’s top performers. Rollins shared his thoughts via Instagram story on Tuesday, shortly after Gable successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Dragon Lee in Mexico City.

“Watching Gable grow into one of the best wrestlers has been an absolute treat,” Rollins wrote.

The bout lasted 15 minutes and 40 seconds and concluded with Gable retaining the title, locking in the ankle lock after Lee had kicked out of every other maneuver. Lee hit a tope con giro over the announce table early on, absorbed an Olympic Slam, and later delivered Operation Dragon twice and a Styles Clash without managing to put Gable away. Throughout the match, the Arena CDMX crowd spent significant stretches chanting in Spanish that this is wrestling, and sang along to Gable’s entrance music as he made his way to the ring.

It was the finish, rather than the action, that drew the most conversation. Gable prevented the referee from handing him the championship, checked on Lee’s condition, and raised his arm to acknowledge the crowd. Lee reciprocated by taking Gable’s hand, and the two embraced. Gable then whispered something to Lee before kissing his forehead.

The match marked Gable’s second title defense since capturing the belt from Penta at SummerSlam on August 2, following his victory over Rey Mysterio on the August 17 edition of Raw. It was also his first competition in Mexico since unmasking as El Grande Americano, a persona he had portrayed since March 2025.

What Rollins is describing is a career that has been rebuilt from the ground up more times than most. Gable represented the United States in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2012 Olympics before signing with WWE, developed in NXT alongside Jason Jordan as American Alpha, and was repositioned as Shorty G in 2019 — a character built around his height that he later described as difficult to execute. He resurgence through Alpha Academy, then through the technical style that earned him genuine respect, then through the masked gimmick, and has emerged on the other side of it all as Intercontinental Champion at the age of 40.

The masked chapter sits uneasily alongside Tuesday’s match. El Grande Americano was a comedic character — an American in a lucha libre mask posing as Mexican — and Gable portrayed it for roughly a year and a half before dropping it. Returning to Mexico City without the mask, in a match the crowd clearly desired and sang along with, represents as clean a resolution as the character could have received.

Rollins and Gable collaborated on a World Heavyweight Championship storyline across 2023 and 2024 that is widely credited as the run that redefined how the company utilized Gable. He came closer to winning the title than anyone anticipated, with the crowd firmly behind him throughout. Rollins ultimately retained, and Gable moved back down the card rather than up — a key reason the past two years have read as a deliberate rebuild.

The event was Raw’s first live show from Mexico City in 15 years and the aftermath of TripleMania 34. Roman Reigns defeated Penta in the main event to retain the World Heavyweight Championship, Lola Vice made her main roster debut and won a Money in the Bank qualifier, Je’Von Evans claimed the men’s qualifier over Austin Theory and Big Cass, and El Grande Americano — now a different performer under the mask — opened the show alongside Stephanie Vaquer in a tag match against Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan.

WWE announced a combined attendance of 49,017 across the three nights held in the city. Gable is the second man to hold the Intercontinental Championship this year in a role nobody could have predicted for him, and the reception in Mexico City suggests the audience has reached the same conclusion as Rollins.

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