How Vince McMahon Destroyed Typecasting In WWE
Chad Gable's recent reinvention on Raw is that of Bobby Roode's biggest fan. He hops, skips and jumps alongside 'The Glorious One' on Raw, all the while enhancing their matches with dynamic decadence beyond the ability level of his peers. Not like that matters. His own excellence is the subplot in this particular story - the focus is how rattled Roode is with Gables' earnest enthusiasm. It'll thankfully almost certainly end in an overdue heel turn for the former NXT Champion (yet another completely misconstrued character), but the bigger issue is the characterisation of Chad in particularly that will get them to that end point.
Gable - giddy to the point of irritation - is how Vince McMahon views his entire audience. Happiness is an emotion to be demonised, support one to be squashed. Roode, by all rights, should be absolutely buzzing to find a friend as talented as Gable willing to fight his corner so fanatically. He instead furrows a brow and curls a lip, stopping only short of screaming F-words as McMahon probably does in Michael Cole's ear when it's time to talk over boos for babyfaces and cheers for heels.
We are all Chad Gable. Gable helped Jason Jordan over a hump. Gable made Shelton Benjamin a somebody again. He was a guy that cared enough about Sports Entertainment - and enjoying his time within it - that he found a way to make it all make sense. That very same task is now being dished out to the ticket-buying public. Punters too, are having to put in work to support their favourite workers.
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