5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (18 Mar - Results & Review)

4. Chad Gable, Motivational Speaker

After inexplicably losing an Intercontinental Championship number one contender’s match last week that seemed to be designed for him, Chad Gable become the subject of speculation among fans. Would he turn heel? Would he try to worm his way into the IC Title match, either by taking Sami Zayn’s spot or as part of a triple threat?

Raw provided the first glimpses of a more serious and restrained Gable, as the Olympian confronted Zayn and told him that he doesn’t believe Sami can beat Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship. Zayn tracked Gable down after the contract signing – and Gunther’s great dressing-down – to ask what he meant by that.

Gable’s response provided a hint of what could be an interesting twist on the Alpha Academy leader’s character. He talked about Gunther being not just physically dominant, but mentally imposing. Gable noted that Sami relies on his underdog status, exploiting a weakness or window of opportunity, which Gunther does not have.

Then Gable said something that made your mind race a bit: “If you don’t change your mentality, you can’t beat him.” That’s not a heel’s response. That’s the line someone throws out when offering a path forward. Perhaps Gable will offer to coach Zayn to change his mentality to finally bring Gunther down. That would tie to his role as head of Alpha Academy, plus it would open the door to Gable challenging Sami after WrestleMania XL.

Or maybe he’ll just turn heel on Zayn and that’ll be that. But this is a more intriguing option than Chad trying to wedge his way into the match.