Chad Gable talks about the ‘Shorty G’ gimmick as Otis remembers kissing Mandy Rose at WrestleMania

Chad Gable and Otis are two stars who became popular with the WWE Universe for various reasons, but found an extra level by working together.

The real good friends teamed up this weekend at WrestleMania 39 in a losing effort, but Gable was praised for his in-ring showing, landing a rolling German suplex on the 6ft8in Braun Strowman.

Fans have always recognized Gable’s in-ring talents and Otis has the natural charisma that WWE’s top executives are so desperate for.

However, after Gable was saddled with a humiliating “Shorty G” gimmick and Otis lost the Money in the Bank briefcase, the pair had to come together to find their way again – really.

“I think we both hit rock bottom where he lost everything, I was wasting… I finally let go of the Shorty G thing, back as Gable but with nothing really in the pipeline and it was like ‘Dude, we we’ve been best friends for so long, we’ve never really connected here in the company, let’s try something new and see,” Gable told SportsMail exclusively.

“Once people in the business saw it, once the fans saw it, they saw the friendship shine through and were like ‘where has this been? We’ve been waiting for this.”

“If it’s in real life, it’s easy,” Otis added. “I’ve been blessed where I’ve had tag team partners and I fell in love with them.

It’s more fun to be on the road for your partner, it’s just easy to be on TV and do something like we would in real life.”

Shorty G was a gimmick essentially created to do nothing but make fun of Gable’s height. Fans unanimously hated it, and it looks like Gable did too. When did he know it was a disaster like the rest of us?

“In a few months,” Gable began.

“I don’t know, I’m not against trying anything. Opportunities are what you put here, just a chance at anything. So when I was presented with it I thought let’s give it a try?

“I had some big moments there with Team Hogan and things like that, but I lost steam pretty quickly around WrestleMania later that year.

“So I said okay, let’s start thinking about the next thing. I’m always writing things down and brainstorming and pitching things so once I realized I had a lot in the pipeline that I wanted to do with the Gable character that I had never done before it was time to to pour out.’

Gable had a WrestleMania moment with his suplex, but Otis himself had a big moment in 2020 when he kissed Mandy Rose. Unfortunately, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, no fans were there for the magical moment.

Otis is still looking for his next high point, but he’s still cherishing his high point yet.

“There were a lot of great moments that year and I don’t want to take anything away from Drew winning the title and all that, but they say you never forget your first WrestleMania moment and kiss the lady, the blonde lady – can’t say her name yet ( Rose has since left the company) – that was… but even to see it get the love and the comments online two weeks later was cool [laughs].