Chad Gable Opens Up About WWE Cutting Time From Viking Rules Match On RAW

WWE has booked a lot of interesting gimmick matches over the history of the company. One of the most recent additions to their interesting contests was the Vikings Rules match. That match had a lot more to it than what it first looked like.

During the July 17th, 2023 episode of WWE RAW, the Viking Raiders secured a victory over Alpha Academy in an intense Viking Rules match. Fans really didn’t know what to expect from that contest, and that’s exactly what they got.

During a conversation on Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast, Chad Gable offered intriguing behind-the-scenes insights into the match’s execution and dynamics. It seems that the creation for that match might be as interesting as the end result.

“We had our time allotted, and we knew what we had, and it got cut, like so often happens with what we do. It’s a live TV show, this stuff happens. You’re always prepared for that going in. This was that one time where, and I’m always professional, I do my best to maintain professionalism. We were told, ‘your time is cut, we have to get rid of some stuff.’ I was like, ‘No. We’ll do it. We’ll make it work.’”

Advertising

Advertising

“We won’t be unprofessional and steal other people’s time, but we’re going to do what we planned because this is awesome and people deserve to see this. This whole story we’ve told, where we crammed a lot of stuff into 60-second backstage segments or 45 seconds here to tell a story as quick as we can about me coaching Maxxine and they get 30 seconds to respond. That stuff all worked so well that we got given more time to build to this payout, so we’re going to make the most of this payout. We deserved it, and I felt like we earned the right to do all of our art that night and deliver the masterpiece we got in eight minutes of Raw. I think we did it. It was a moment where I was like, ‘We’re not going to get rid of anything or change anything, let’s just do it.’ It worked out.” 

The Viking Raiders and Valhalla are still doing their thing on RAW. Meanwhile, the Alpha Academy has become a stand-out act for the red brand as well, as Maxxine Dupri’s addition really turned a few fans for them.

We will have to see what’s next for everyone involved, but we certainly got an interesting Viking Rules match out the the whole situation. For more on this, and many other stories, please keep checking back with us here at Ringside News.

The Viking Raiders entered WWE as huge names from NJPW as War Machine, but did the Viking gimmick soften them at all? Sound off in the comments to let us know what you think!