Chad Gable
Charles Betts (born March 8, 1986)[9] is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Chad Gable.
A prolific amateur wrestler who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Betts signed with WWE in late 2013 and underwent training before he was deployed to developmental branch NXT. A tag team specialist, he won the NXT Tag Team Championship with his partner Jason Jordan as American Alpha, before being called up to the main roster in 2016, where the two won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship before disbanding in mid-2017. He formed a tag team with Shelton Benjamin before being traded to Raw in the 2018 Superstar Shake-up and subsequently forming a team with Bobby Roode, winning the Raw Tag Team Championship with him in December 2018. With this, Gable became the second man (after his former tag team partner Jason Jordan) to hold the NXT, Raw, and SmackDown Tag Team Championships.
Starting in May 2015, NXT newcomer Chad Gable began a storyline with Jason Jordan, in which he tried to convince Jordan to form a new partnership, following the dissolution of Jordan’s team with Tye Dillinger. After nearly two months of coaxing, Jordan finally agreed to a tag team match with Gable as his teammate. On the July 15 episode of NXT, Jordan and Gable were successful in their official debut together against the team of Elias Samson and Steve Cutler.[17] On September 2, Jordan and Gable competed in the first round of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament, beating the team of Neville and Solomon Crowe. After defeating the Hype Bros, they would get eliminated from the tournament by the team of Baron Corbin and Rhyno. Originally villains, the duo turned into fan favorites even in defeat, when they showed fighting spirit and resiliency throughout the match. At NXT TakeOver: London, Gable and Jordan were successful in a fatal four-way tag team match which was taped for the December 23 episode of NXT. On the January 8 tapings of NXT, the team of Jordan and Gable began using the name American Alpha.
American Alpha after winning the NXT Tag Team Championship at the NXT TakeOver: Dallas event in April 2016
American Alpha faced off with the Vaudevillains on the March 16 episode of NXT in a number one contender’s match where they emerged victorious, earning them an NXT Tag Team Championship match against Dash and Dawson, now called “The Revival”, at NXT TakeOver: Dallas. The pair won the NXT Tag Team Championship at the event.[18] On June 8 at NXT TakeOver: The End, American Alpha lost the titles back to The Revival, ending their reign at 68 days. After the match, they were assaulted by the debuting Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar), who were managed by the legendary manager, Paul Ellering.[19] The pair subsequently failed to win back the NXT Tag Team Championship after being defeated by the Revival in a two out of three falls match on the July 6 episode of NXT, before wrestling their final match on the brand on July 20, where they were defeated by The Authors of Pain.
As a result of the 2016 WWE draft on July 19, the team was drafted to the SmackDown brand, being their first tag team pick overall.[20] On the August 2 episode of SmackDown, American Alpha made their debut, defeating The Vaudevillains. The pair teamed with The Usos and The Hype Bros at SummerSlam to defeat the team of The Ascension, Breezango and The Vaudevillains. The pair then entered an eight-tag team tournament which would determine the inaugural SmackDown Tag Team Champions, defeating Breezango in the first round to advance to the semi-finals where they faced The Usos. Despite defeating The Usos quickly on the September 6 episode of SmackDown, Gable’s knee was kayfabe injured during a post-match assault when the Usos turned heel, rendering American Alpha unable to compete at Backlash and undoing their attempts to become the inaugural champions.
They returned on the September 20 episode to face the Usos in a number one contender’s match to establish who would face inaugural Smackdown Tag Team Champions Heath Slater and Rhyno at No Mercy, where they were defeated due to Gable’s injury, marking their first loss on the main roster. At the event, they would instead team with the Hype Bros to face the Ascension and the Vaudevillians where they were successful. On the November 1 episode of SmackDown, American Alpha defeated The Spirit Squad to qualify for Team SmackDown for the 10–on–10 Survivor Series tag team elimination match at Survivor Series. Team SmackDown was defeated by Team Raw at the event, with American Alpha being eliminated by Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson after eliminating The Shining Stars.
On the December 27 episode of SmackDown Live, they defeated Randy Orton and Luke Harper of The Wyatt Family, Heath Slater and Rhyno, and The Usos in a four corners elimination match to become the new SmackDown Tag Team Champions, celebrating with their families afterward.[21] After defeating The Wyatt Family (Orton and Harper) in a rematch to retain their titles on January 10, the pair would go on to defend their titles in a tag team turmoil match at Elimination Chamber successfully against The Ascension, Usos, Vaudevillians, Breezango and Heath Slater & Rhyno, entering fourth and eliminating the Usos and Ascension, despite an attack by the Usos after their elimination, continuing their feud. On the March 21 episode of SmackDown Live, American Alpha lost the SmackDown Tag Team Championships to The Usos after suffering a non-title match loss to the pair the prior week. After making their Wrestlemania debut at WrestleMania 33 where both were unsuccessful in winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal they failed in their championship rematch to the Usos, being attacked by Primo and Epico afterward, who defeated them the following week.
On the June 20 episode of SmackDown, Chad Gable answered the United States Championship Open Challenge put forward by champion Kevin Owens where he was ultimately unsuccessful.[22] In a July interview, Gable spoke about going solo, citing his will to fight against top competition.[23] On the July 17 episode of Raw, Jason Jordan was moved to the Raw brand. This effectively disbanded the team.[24]
Tag team specialist (2017–2019)
