Charles Edward Betts, born on March 8, 1986, is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler, known in the WWE under the ring name Chad Gable.
Hailing from Minnesota, a state known for its wrestling legacy, Gable has been a master of the mat since his youth. He was a state champion in high school before reaching the pinnacle of amateur wrestling in 2012, earning a spot on Team USA at the London Olympics.
Betts developed a love affair with the WWE at a young age. "I started to become obsessed with it when I was 6 years old," he said. "I just fell in love with it. My love for it just grew. I was fully obsessed with it all the way through high school and into college."
He even trained at a pro wrestling school when he was in high school and had a match when he was 17.
Let's take a closer look at his journey.
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Amateur Wrestling Career
He was a state high school wrestling champion in Minnesota before competing collegiately at the Olympic Greco-Roman developmental program at Northern Michigan University. During his Greco-Roman career, Betts trained at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
"I never really thought about going to the Olympics until my junior year of high school," Betts said. "My dad and I stumbled across a training opportunity to go to college and train in Greco-Roman, which is the style I wrestled at the Olympics. At the time, to go to college and do Greco-Roman was a new opportunity, and we jumped on it."
"It was the perfect decision for me."
He progressed to the 2012 Summer Olympics, where he competed in the Greco-Roman style 84kg event. Olympic Trials in the 84 kg category. He defeated Keitani Graham from the Federated States of Micronesia in the qualification round.
He went 1-1 in London and fell short of winning a medal in 2012, but he still savors the opportunity he had to represent his country on that stage.
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"The Olympics was an incredible opportunity and I considered it my reward for the 20 years that I had put into wrestling," he said. "The journey was more important than the destination. It was everything that I had envisioned. It was a special experience."
"The atmosphere whenever the athletes were all together was just amazing. That was the pinnacle."
Chas Betts retired from Olympic-style wrestling in 2012 and shortly after that was training for a new career with World Wrestling Entertainment.
Early Wrestling Career
- Under his real name, Betts debuted in his home state of Minnesota on October 26, 2003 in Midwest Pro Wrestling (MPW).
- His first match was against the reigning champion Casanova for the MPW Cruiserweight Championship.
- The following year on April 25, 2004, Betts formed a one-time tag team known in MPW as Team Storm with Kurt Pope.
- Together they won their first and only tag match defeating Johnny Emerald & Version 2.
- He wrestled his final MPW match on August 8, 2004 against Arik Cannon, ending in a draw.
- In 2005, Betts continued wrestling in his home state appearing in a single match for Northern Impact Wrestling (NIW), against Kid Krazy.
- After a seven-year hiatus, Betts returned on November 17, 2012 to wrestle in local state shows including Pro Wrestling Battleground (PWB) where he challenged the reigning champion Luther Wilson III for the PWB Breakout Championship but did not succeed in winning the title.
- During his final match in PWB, Betts held the PWB Championship, successfully retaining the title against challenger Renny D.
- He later appeared in Minnesota's American Wrestling Federation (AWF) between January and February 2013, in which he won his only two matches, defeating Aaron Corbin and future WWE 205 Live superstar Arya Daivari.
- On March 9, 2013, Betts debuted in Minnesota Independent Wrestling (MIW), where he defeated Benjamin Sailer.
WWE Career
In November 2013, Betts signed a contract with the professional wrestling promotion WWE. Chad Gable stepped into the "squared circle" in a WWE event for the first time in 2014. He debuted on the WWE main roster with Jason Jordan on the tag team American Alpha in 2016.
On September 5, 2014 he made his in-ring debut as Chad Gable at an NXT house show in Cocoa Beach, Florida where he defeated Troy McClain.
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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.
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. 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 Wilder and Scott Dawson, now called "The Revival", at NXT TakeOver: Dallas. The pair won the NXT Tag Team Championship at the event.
On June 8 at NXT TakeOver: The End, American Alpha lost the title back to The Revival, ending their reign at 68 days.
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.
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 (Tyler Breeze and Fandango), and The Vaudevillains.
The pair then entered an eight-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. 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.
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.
After defeating The Wyatt Family (Orton and Harper) in a rematch to retain their title on January 10, the pair would go on to defend their title in a tag team turmoil match at Elimination Chamber successfully against The Ascension, Usos, Vaudevillians, Breezango, and Heath Slater and 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 Championship to The Usos after suffering a non-title match loss to the pair the prior 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.
In a July interview, Gable spoke about going solo, citing his will to fight against top competition.
On the July 17 episode of Raw, Jason Jordan was moved to the Raw brand.
On the August 22 episode of SmackDown Live, General Manager Daniel Bryan announced that he had signed a returning Shelton Benjamin to team up with Gable, therefore creating a tag team between the two.
The following week on SmackDown Live, Gable and Benjamin picked up a win over The Ascension in their first match as a tag team; this was also Benjamin's first WWE match since 2010.
On the September 12 episode of SmackDown Live, Benjamin and Gable would defeat The Hype Bros, before defeating them again in a rematch at Hell in a Cell.
On the October 10 episode of SmackDown Live, Benjamin and Gable would defeat The Hype Bros, The Ascension, and Breezango in a fatal four-way match to become the number one contenders for The Usos's SmackDown Tag Team Championship. On the November 7 episode of SmackDown Live, they received their title opportunity and won the match by count-out, however, the Usos retained their championships as titles do not change hands by count out unless stipulated.
After trading victories with The Usos the following weeks, they competed in a fatal four-way match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships against defending champions The Usos, The New Day, and the team of Rusev and Aiden English at Clash of Champions, but failed to win the title. Two days later on SmackDown Live, Gable and Benjamin defeated The Usos in a non-title match.
On the January 2, 2018, episode of SmackDown Live, they defeated The New Day and Rusev and English in a triple threat match to earn another shot at the SmackDown Tag Team titles, which they lost the following week after pinning the wrong twin for the apparent victory and then losing the impromptu rematch.
The following week on SmackDown Live, the duo confirmed their heel turn when they insulted the referee of their title match the week before, demoralized the fans, and accused General Manager Daniel Bryan of being biased, which resulted in Bryan booking them for a two out of three falls match against The Usos at the Royal Rumble, where they lost in two straight falls.
That following week, Gable and Benjamin interrupted an episode of Fashion Files, and traded insults with Breezango, challenging them to a match, Gable and Benjamin would eventually win the match. The next week, Gable and Benjamin mocked The New Day and faced them in a losing effort.
On April 16, Gable was moved to Raw as part of the 2018 WWE Superstar Shake-Up, thus disbanding with Benjamin.
On the April 23 episode of Raw, Gable turned face after he took offense at Jinder Mahal insulting Raw General Manager Kurt Angle. Gable would defeat Mahal on his first match on the brand.
On the September 3 episode of Raw, Gable formed a tag team with Bobby Roode and went on to defeat The Ascension. At Survivor Series, they would become captains for Team Raw, but lost to Team SmackDown in the 10-on-10 Survivor Series tag team elimination match.
During this time, Gable changed his attire to trunks and began wearing a robe in his entrance, mirroring Roode's look.
At the Royal Rumble kick-off show, Gable and Roode defeated Rezar and Scott Dawson in a non-title match.
After the 2019 Superstar Draft, Gable returned to the SmackDown Live brand.
His early appearances involved backstage segments during which he would be secretly or directly antagonized for his alleged "smaller stature", by rivals including Elias and Gable's former tag team partner Shelton Benjamin.
Gable made his in-ring return on the August 27 episode of SmackDown Live, featuring the return of the King Of The Ring Tournament. Gable advanced in the first round after eliminating Shelton Benjamin. The following month on the September 3 episode of SmackDown Live, Gable advanced in the quarter final after eliminating Andrade. On the same night, he would face Shane McMahon in the semifinals matchup of the tournament after his original opponent, Elias, withdrew due to injury. Their match would turn out to be a 2-out-of-3 falls match with Kevin Owens as the special guest referee. Gable would go on to win with some assistance from Owens. On the September 16 episode of Raw, Gable would lose to Baron Corbin in the finals. Corbin would mock Gable on the following SmackDown episode, starting a feud between the two.
At Hell in a Cell, Gable defeated Corbin. He would later on be re-branded as 'Shorty G' after a request made by Corbin before their pay-per-view match to the announcers to call him 'Shorty Gable'.
At Crown Jewel on October 31, Shorty G competed in a 10-man tag team match as a part of Team Hogan, defeating Team Flair.
At Survivor Series, Shorty G was a part of Team SmackDown; he was eliminated by Kevin Owens, but his team won the match. After this event, Shorty G continued to wrestle in the tag team division with Mustafa Ali as his partner.
On the January 3, 2020, episode of SmackDown, Sheamus returned from injury, appearing to save Shorty G from an attack by The Revival, but then delivered a Brogue Kick to him.
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