What’s Next For Jason Jordan and Chad Gable?

Remember the times when WCW writers tried their hardest to make fans believe that The Big Show was the genuine offspring of Andre The Giant? Well here we are over two decades later and once again we’re being asked to believe that two wrestlers who slightly resemble one another are actually family.

On Raw, Kurt Angle revealed to the world that former NXT and Smackdown Live Tag Champion Jason Jordan is not only the newest member of the Raw roster but also his blood relative. Fans have speculated a potential mentor relationship being developed between Angle and American Alpha, but nobody predicted it to be to this extent.

There are numerous sharks being jumped here for the sake of a ‘shock twist’ in a storyline that didn’t really feel like it existed yet. But hey, good for Jason Jordan, who should at least get some decent screen time out of this.

Arguably, Jordan was playing wingman to the rising star Chad Gable during their heyday as a tag team, but since they seem to have vanished from the Smackdown Tag division, neither seemed to be going anywhere. Maybe Vince’s desire for main eventers with big pecs was aroused when he bumped into Jordan backstage, suddenly realising the potential for yet another heavyweight on Raw.

But where exactly can they go with this new relationship between Jordan and Angle? Kurt isn’t really butting heads with anyone right now, so it’s not like Jason can jump in as his muscle. Surely it would have made more sense to start the inevitable Angle/Triple H feud, then bringing in Jordan to wrestle whoever Hunter would choose as his henchman going into SummerSlam. Unless Jordan goes under a serious rebrand in the coming weeks, I find it hard to place him in a suitable rivalry which could establish him as a major singles star. Perhaps due to a classic case of wrestling nepotism, Angle will throw Jordan into the Universal title picture, leading to what could be a really interesting match with Brock Lesnar (a fellow NCAA competitor).

On the other hand, where does this leave Chad Gable? Evidently American Alpha has run its course and is no longer seen as a viable product for the Smackdown tag division, so perhaps Gable can live through a resurgence as a singles star. Gable recently competed against Kevin Owens in a US title open challenge, as well as having a battle royal qualifiers match against AJ Styles a few Smackdowns ago. Both matches were unsurprisingly fantastic, with Gable stealing the show on both occasions. So is there a way for Gable to find himself competing for the US title going into Summerslam? I wouldn’t doubt his chances.

Gable shocked the entire NXT fanbase upon his debut in May 2015. The build to Jason Jordan finally accepting Gable’s offer to team together was tedious at best, I’m not sure anyone expected the two to have such incredible natural chemistry together right off the bat. Gable’s olympic style of wrestling won the crowd over and soon American Alpha’s stock skyrocketed on a global scale. Being in the crowd for Takeover: London, I can’t begin to describe just how hot the crowd was for them.

So if fan response was anything to go by, Chad Gable was something special. Unfortunately, due to underwhelming and badly timed booking, both Gable and Jordan have lost a lot of momentum and their connection with the fans has dwindled. Should Smackdown writers begin to portray Gable as a worthy contender or capable underdog, then I don’t see how fans couldn’t get behind him once again. Let him go nuts in the ring and put on spectacular wrestling matches, that’s what made him popular in the first place!

Jordan will probably require more work, but thankfully Kurt Angle is a universally beloved character and will probably manage to get at least some of the fans behind him in the meantime. Once he finds himself in a meaningful feud, then maybe he might be taken seriously after this utter nonsense of character development.