Chad Gable is aware of the comparisons he and Jason Jordan get to Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, but they draw inspiration from another team.
Gable and Jordan told me in an interview earlier this year that their in-ring gear is take-off of the Steiner Brothers, but in a new article for Rolling Stone, the former Olympian said their in-ring style was a huge contribution to American Alpha's as well.
“We like to combine and watch everything. Obviously we’ve seen their stuff. It wasn’t a deliberate thing that we wanted to be like those guys, but I mean, we’re amateur wrestlers and we want to wear singlets. And it just so happens that we somewhat resemble them. If you’re going to ask me who we would say is influential to us, I’d say it’s more of the Steiner Brothers. They’re someone we watch constantly. Those guys were ahead of their time, in my opinion. We’ve been watching so much of their older stuff lately, and some of the stuff they were doing in the 80s was so ahead of its time. We want to be that version, today. We want people to look back on us and say, ‘Man, those guys were ahead of their time.’ We want to be new and fresh, and we want people to get the same feeling from us that they did from the Steiners," Gable said.
After capturing the NXT Tag Team titles earlier this year, there wasn't a lot more for American Alpha to accomplish on the brand. The duo were drafted to Smackdown in July, and already have some goals in mind.
In the short-term, we want to create an atmosphere on Smackdown where we raise the game of every tag team there. We want to approach it in a way that we're so tenacious, and we're so hungry, that it makes everyone else step up. We want them to say that they don't want the new guys to come in and take over. We want that competition. That's what we thrive on. If we can start that as quick as possible, we want everyone to step up and make the tag teams the thing to watch on Smackdown. That's the short-term goal. Long-term? I hope they introduce tag titles to Smackdown. We want to win those. If not, we want to win the other tag team titles and bring them to Smackdown. Ultimately, we need to be on Wrestlemania next year. We need to be in a pivotal match and make an impact on a huge stage. We want to show it on the grandest stage possible," said Gable.
Gable and Jordan aren't currently scheduled for any Summerslam weekend events.
