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WWE’s Chad Gable gets real about Sami Zayn’s chances against Gunther at WrestleMania 40

Originally posted on ClutchPoints | By Matty Breisch | Last updated 3/19/24

After securing the decisive win over five other Superstars in a Gauntlet match to decide on the next challenger for Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship, Sami Zayn was riding high.

Suddenly, after weeks and weeks of hoping for his chance to land a spot on the “Showcase of the Immortals,” Zayn had punched his ticket to the biggest show of the year, even if, even at the time, the audience was mixed over his victory versus Chad Gable.

Attempting to touch base with Gable before his big contract signing with the “Ring General,” Gable wasn’t particularly excited about the conversation, as he clearly feels a certain type of way about the “Underdog from the Underground.”

“Look look, Sami, last week, this opportunity, WrestleMania, this whole thing, to me, it meant more,” Chad Gable said.

“You know Chad, I gotta tell you, man, it’s really unfair, man,” Sami Zayn responded. “No, you think you’re the only one this matters to? You’re not, man, I have a family at home. You know my kid cries when Baba loses a match too, all right? I have people that I’ve let down in my life, in my career, people I’m trying to make proud, too, after all the years I put into this game, you don’t get to tell me what matters to me, man, cause you don’t know what this means to me, cause you don’t know what this means to me.”

After taking a moment to think it over, Gable responded in the most brutal way imaginable.

“Sami, I know all of that, it’s not about that!” Gable declared. “You can’t beat Gunther.”

Oh snap, brutal stuff, right? Well, wait, it gets worse, as Gunther decided to add even more fuel to the fire in a promo of his own.

**Gunther agrees with Chad Gable about Sami Zayn’s Mania chances.**

After watching Gunther berate his looks and how seriously he was taking a chance to dethrone the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time, Sami Zayn attempted to defend himself in the middle of the ring, reminding the “Ring General” that he has accomplished a lot during his professional wrestling career too.

“A lot of people didn’t believe in me at many, many points in my career, Gunther,” Sami Zayn declared. “People didn’t believe that I would even end up in WWE, people didn’t believe I would be a champion! People didn’t believe I would main event WrestleMania. And I bet if you ask The Usos, they didn’t believe that I would be the guy to end the longest Tag Team Title reign of all time, but I did. And now, one year later, I will make history again by ending the longest Intercontinental Title reign of all time!”

“Look Sami, I think what you should do is listen to your new friend Chad Gable, because he doesn’t believe you can beat me,” Gunther responded. “All of the people here in the building that cheer for you, I think they love you but they don’t believe you can beat me. And you know when I look into your eyes and if you would be honest with yourself, you don’t believe you can beat me. So what you’re doing right now is standing on my doorstep and beg me to receive the beating of a lifetime at the grandest stage of them all. So whatever you need to do, Sami, dreaming, believing, keep on doing it, because at WrestleMania, your dreams will meet reality.”

As Gunther tried to leave the ring, Zayn stopped him, letting him know that he was not going to be overlooked by anyone, even the IC Champion.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, so you look in my eyes, and you believe you don’t think I believe, huh?” Zayn asked. “Look again. Get a good long look, because you are looking into the eyes of the man who is going to take you down at WrestleMania!”

Marching backstage to get some answers from the leader of the Alpha Academy, Zayn asked Gable straight up, why doesn’t he think he’s capable of beating Gunther.

“You just saw why, when it comes to Gunther, it’s not just physical, it’s mental, alright?” Chad Gable noted. “You’ve made a career out of being the Underdog that crawls out of any hole he’s in, alright, just like with me last week. You find a window of opportunity and crawl out of it every time, but Gunther is on a different level, okay? You’re going to sit and wait for that hole to appear, it isn’t going to happen with him, okay? He’s a different beast, a different animal than you’ve ever wrestled before. If you don’t change your mentality, you can’t beat him.”

Is Gable correct? Is Gunther simply on another level than Zayn, even if he’s accomplished plenty of interesting milestones during his career in WWE and beyond? Maybe yes, maybe no, but at WrestleMania 40, fans will find out definitively.