Chad Gable has been one of the most consistently great performers this year, ever since his return as the Original El Grande Americano in January’s Royal Rumble.

Following this, Gable continued to wrestle under this gimmick on Raw and AAA, while Ludwig Kaiser was establishing himself as the second El Grande Americano.

Gable’s AAA run came to an end on May 30, with El Grande Americano defeating the Original El Grande Americano in a Mask vs Mask match at Noche de Los Grandes.

Chad Gable unmasked following this match of the year contender and returned to the Raw roster, where he reconciled with luchadores on the roster and made it his goal to win the Intercontinental Championship.

He achieved this at SummerSlam, defeating Penta to kick off what would ultimately be a 91 day reign.

During this title stint, Gable defended the title against Rey Mysterio, Dragon Lee, Rey Fenix, ahead of dropping the gold to Ethan Page on the November 2 Raw episode.

While many were optimistic about Chad Gable potentially being elevated to the main event scene following this title loss, this hasn’t happened yet, with Gable actually losing an Intercontinental Championship #1 contender’s three-way bout on November 9.

This has resulted in many fans asking, will Chad Gable ever hold a world title in WWE?

Always the bridesmaid?

Chad Gable was considered by fans to be the most underrated star in WWE for so long that he’s probably actually appropriately rated now.

Many fans are aware that Gable is one of the best in-ring technicians in the company, yet up until SummerSlam we kept seeing the former Olympian miss out on major opportunities.

One decision which stung a lot for Chad Gable fans was Zayn defeating GUNTHER to end his 666 day Intercontinental Championship reign at WrestleMania 40.

Gable was involved with this storyline, coaching Sami Zayn to this victory, but given his previous encounters with GUNTHER, many believed that it would’ve made more sense for the former American Alpha member to win the gold.

Well, Gable’s work across AAA and Raw has been too good to ignore this year, so surely this means he’s now on track to hold the World Heavyweight Title?

The “Big Dog” in the room

The Undisputed WWE Championship scene has been so exciting this year, with the top title changing hands five times in 2026 so far, and numerous stars being elevated into the world championship picture.

Meanwhile, the World Heavyweight Championship has only changed hands once this year, when Roman Reigns won the gold from CM Punk at WrestleMania 42 in April.

While Roman Reigns’ title defenses have mostly been entertaining, he has not defended the gold nearly as much as anyone else would be made to defend a world title.

To put things into perspective, Roman Reigns has defended the World Heavyweight Championship the same amount of times that the WWE Championship has changed hands this year.

With Reigns competing in the Crown Jewel Championship match on November 7, and being announced for the WarGames match at Survivor Series, it’s unclear when Reigns will next actually defend this gold, leaving the likes of Chad Gable, Penta and Oba Femi twiddling their thumbs when it could be one of them reigning as World Heavyweight Champion.

While Reigns is likely being built up so a star like Oba Femi can knock him down, the OTC being champion creates a bottleneck which only ensures that not everyone who deserves an opportunity will be able to get one.

Be so good they can’t ignore you

While it does read like I’m very pessimistic about Chad Gable’s world title chances, in reality I’m not.

I think that Chad Gable is closer than ever to becoming World Heavyweight Champion, purely because it’s impossible to ignore how good he is.

Even before his return to the ring in January, Gable was doing things few other stars were able to, like pulling double duty on July 7, 2025, challenging for El Hijo del Vikingo’s AAA Mega Championship at Worlds Collide just a matter of hours before competing in the Money in the Bank ladder match as the Original El Grande Americano.

Chad Gable is has the Midas touch, every match, segment or storyline he touches turns to gold. As 2027 quickly approaches, I can’t help but be optimistic about the former Olympian’s world title chances.

Of course, we could also see Roman Reigns hold the title for another full year while only wrestling 10 times, but with Oba Femi and Señor Money in the Bank Penta on his tail, the OTC won’t be champion forever… right?