The crowd at the WWE Draft show erupted the moment when Daniel Bryan announced that Jason Jordan and Chad Gable were being called up to SmackDown Live. It was arguably the biggest reaction to any of SmackDown’s picks including WWE Champion Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles.
Jordan and Gable has established themselves as one of the best tag-teams in the world over the past year and captured the NXT Tag-Team Championship at NXT TakeOver: Dallas from arch rivals The Revival. American Alpha have been called up to SmackDown to head a thin division, but if anyone can make their opponents look credible its Jordan and Gable.
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Some casual fans may be unfamiliar with the Alpha’s, so it’s time to take a look at some things fans might not know about SmackDown Live’s hottest new tag-team.
5: They’re both homegrown Superstars
The WWE Performance Centre often doesn’t get enough credit, especially with the whole host of indie wrestlers who’ve recently signed with NXT. Jason Jordan and Chad Gable are just the latest in a long line of homegrown Superstars who’ve flourished in NXT before getting called up to the main roster, a list which includes the Four Horsewomen, Baron Corbin, Tyler Breeze, Nia Jax and Big E.
Jordan started in WWE development for FCW all the way back in 2011, before it’s was rebranded as NXT, with Chad Gable joining him two years later. Although both of them were amateur wrestlers, they have only ever wrestled professionally for WWE and are as homegrown as it gets for WWE Superstars.
4: Their partnership had a rocky beginning
Jason Jordan lackluster tag-team with Tye Dillinger was going nowhere in early 2015 which ended with Jordan turning on Dillinger and going heel. He spent a good amount of time looking for a new tag team partner when Chad Gable came in and lobbied for himself to be Jordan’s new partner. However, Jordan found Gable annoying and ignored him and looked at others like Sylvester LeFort and Solomon Crowe.
Jordan finally accepted Gable’s offer in July 2015 after being unable to find a satisfactory partner and the duo won their first match against Elias Sampson and Steve Cutler. Although Jordan his doubts in the beginning, American Alpha caught fire and have made their way to the main roster a little over a year after they got together.
3: Kurt Angle is a known admirer
As one of the hottest tag-teams in the world right now, American Alpha have a host of former wrestlers who are huge fans of their work. Amongst them is former WWE Champion and fan favourite, Kurt Angle. Angle has likened them to his former protégés Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas.
The former Olympic gold medalist has praised their work on many occasions and has in the past even talked about the possibility of working with the duo as a manager in the mould of a modern day Team Angle.
“For me to go back and, if I do go back I’d love to be able to wrestle, but I know I can’t do it full time. I’m 47 years-old. And that’s why those guys would be perfect as my team, like a Team Angle, because they could do the wrestling for me until the big one comes.
So it would be kind of cool to have that. I’m not going to say those guys are going to be my guys, but they’re almost ready to come up – if not they are ready. I’ve watched them wrestle and they’re really good.
It would be really cool to have a new Team Angle. I could do the big matches; the Summerslam and the Wrestlemanias. I think that would be a good mix. And it would also give them a great rub, a rub that they need. We’ll see if we do something like that, I don’t know if it’s on the cards, but you never know.”
- Kurt Angle in an interview to The World According to Wrestling
2: Chad Gable is a former Olympian
While Kurt Angle is the most famous Olympian to have competed professionally in the WWE, he isn’t the only one. Chad Gable is also a former Olympian having represented the United States at the 2012 Olympics in London where he beat Keitani Graham in the Qualification Round before being eliminated from the competition in the next round after a loss to Cuban wrestler Pablo Shorey.
Gable has previously stated that his failure at the Olympics was one of the most disappointing moments of his life. However, he’s put his Olympic disappointment behind him and has transitioned seamlessly to the professional world and has a glittering career ahead of him.
1: Jordan and Gable are both standout amateur athletes
Both Jason Jordan and Chad Gable are phenomenal athletes with glittering amateur careers. While Chad Gable only focused of wrestling, Jason Jordan was a three sport athlete. Jordan played American Football and Baseball in high school even though wrestling was always his primary focus and was even offered a professional baseball contract straight out of high school but passed up the offer to go to college and wrestle.
Jordan and Gable both had excellent amateur wrestling careers. Jordan competed in the 285lb weight class and amassed a 35-0 record which was the second best in the US at the time and is a three time qualifier for the NCAA Division 1. Gable on the other hand is a state level high-school wrestling champion and represented the United States at the 2012 summer Olympics in London.
