5 theories on why WWE split up Bobby Roode & Chad Gable

The 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-Up saw five tag teams part ways, including former Raw Tag Team champions Bobby Roode & Chad Gable.

Following SummerSlam 2018, the “Glorious” duo began teaming together in matches against The Ascension, The Revival and AOP. They got off to a rocky start, with both men losing singles matches against Konnor, but they worked well as a duo and won seven 2-on-2 matches out of eight between September and November.

The run of success led to Roode & Gable defeating AOP & Drake Maverick in a 3-on-2 handicap match on Raw in December to win the Raw Tag Team titles. In doing so, Roode became a Tag Team champion for the first time in WWE, while Gable became the second person after Jason Jordan to hold the Raw, SmackDown and NXT Tag Team titles.

After a relatively underwhelming reign as champions, which included successful title defences against The Revival and AOP, the unlikely allies lost their titles against Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder on Raw in February 2019. The two teams continued to tear the house down at live events, but they never met again in a televised match following the title change.

Then, just when it looked as though Roode & Gable were going to revitalise their tag team run by switching from babyfaces to heels, they were split apart in the Superstar Shake-Up when Roode stayed on Raw and Gable moved to SmackDown Live.

In this article, let’s take a look at five theories on why WWE decided to end their tag partnership.

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#5 Bobby Roode heel run

Bobby Roode established himself as the top heel in NXT during his seven-month reign with the NXT Championship in 2017. However, since becoming a member of WWE’s main roster after SummerSlam 2017, he has been a babyface the entire time, with the exception of the last couple of weeks when he has started to show a more aggressive side to his character.

Given that his NXT persona led him to the brand’s top male title, it was a surprise that he underwent such a drastic change in personality as soon as he joined the main roster. Granted, the “Glorious” gimmick and entrance works well for a babyface, but it is also just as well suited to a gloating heel.

Now that the former United States champion will no longer be teaming with Chad Gable, perhaps we will see him join Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre in becoming another one of the main heels on Raw.

#4 Too many Raw tag teams

The Raw roster is stacked with more tag teams than ever following the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up.

As well as Raw Tag Team champions Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins, the following duos are also on the red brand: AOP, Aleister Black & Ricochet, The B-Team, The Revival, The Viking Experience, The Fashion Police, Lucha House Party, Heath Slater & Rhyno, The Usos, The Singh Brothers and The Ascension.

Needless to say, 12 tag teams on a single weekly show is verging on absurd, and there is no way that Bobby Roode & Chad Gable would have been anywhere near the title picture in the near future after their successive defeats in title matches shortly before WrestleMania 35.

Could WWE have moved them to SmackDown Live instead? Perhaps, but that tag division is also stacked with the following seven teams: The New Day, The Bar, The Colons, The Hardy Boyz, The Club, Heavy Machinery and Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura.

With 19 main-roster duos, maybe WWE decided it was time to give other teams a chance, so that is why Roode & Gable were separated.

#3 New tag partner for Chad Gable

Alternatively, with Chad Gable having moved across to SmackDown Live, there is an outside chance that WWE will decide to pair him up with yet another tag team partner.

Taking a closer look at the aforementioned seven teams on the blue brand, the obvious stars of the division are The Hardy Boyz, The New Day and The Bar, while Heavy Machinery have been given lots of television time lately but it remains to be seen what they will offer long-term.

The Club and The Colons are unlikely to win titles any time soon, particularly if reports about Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson leaving later this year are correct, and it would not be surprising if the unusual duo of Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura parted ways soon.

That leaves The New Day and The Bar as the top contenders for The Hardy Boyz’s SmackDown Tag Team titles, but those challenges will have to be put on hold until Big E and Sheamus are cleared to return from injury.

Maybe, just maybe, Gable’s switch back to SmackDown Live will result in him finding yet another tag partner – he has already teamed with Jason Jordan, Shelton Benjamin and Bobby Roode – to challenge for tag titles again.

#2 They had gone as far as they could

In off-screen matches, Bobby Roode & Chad Gable regularly took part in encounters lasting 40+ minutes against The Revival at live events throughout February and March.

On-screen, however, it was a different story, and the “Glorious” duo often found themselves with limited roles on WWE television during their pursuit of the Raw Tag Team titles and even during their reign as champions.

WWE has a habit of putting together two singles competitors and splitting them up within the next year – in fact, it happened this time last year with Gable & Shelton Benjamin – and the results of the Shake-Up appear to prove that the company only chose to pair Roode & Gable up in the first place because they were lacking one-on-one storylines for them both.

Following their Raw Tag Team title defeat, the duo quickly fell out of title contention and found themselves in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 35, which suggests that WWE felt that their run as a team had gone as far as it could.

#1 The FOX Sports factor

There has been lots of speculation throughout 2019 so far that SmackDown Live will have more of a ‘sports’ feel to it when the show moves to FOX Sports in October.

What does that mean exactly? Well, widespread reports recently suggest that there will be a weekly discussion show about WWE, with the channel analysing sports entertainment in the way they would with other sports, while FOX CEO Charlie Collier hinted at further programming during a press tour in February: "The FOX Sports networks, FS1, and others, will have some other wrestling - not live SmackDown, not Raw, but other ties to the WWE world."

If that is indeed the case, then WWE will no doubt want to show off its most accomplished athletes in front of the FOX audience, and Chad Gable – a 2012 Olympian – definitely fits into that category.

Although the multi-time Tag Team champion has not achieved a great amount of success as a singles competitor in WWE yet, his amateur wrestling exploits make him the perfect fit for a sports-centric SmackDown Live show.