Updated

Updated · Fox News · Nov 13

Ethan Page Wins WWE Intercontinental Title, Becomes 193rd Champion After Nov. 2 Victory

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Nov 13

Ethan Page Wins WWE Intercontinental Title, Becomes 193rd Champion After Nov. 2 Victory

Q: Will the chaotic post-match attack by The 946 derail Ethan Page's upcoming title defense against Rey Fenix?

Probably not, at least based on what is known now. The attack by The 946 created uncertainty around Rey Fenix’s condition and added more chaos to the Intercontinental title picture, but there is no indication yet that WWE has canceled or changed Fenix’s No. 1 contender status. Fenix officially earned the title shot by winning the triple-threat match on Raw, pinning Chad Gable after Big Cass had appeared close to victory. Ethan Page himself has said he is not involved in choosing challengers and is focused on defending the championship against whoever management puts in front of him. That suggests the scheduled defense remains on track unless WWE officials decide otherwise. What the attack does change is the storyline around the match. The 946 left Fenix, Gable and Cass laid out, which could justify a delay, a medical update, or even interference-driven fallout if WWE wants to fold the faction into the Intercontinental scene. But at this stage, the clearest reading is that the segment was meant to heighten tension across Raw rather than remove Fenix from contention. So the most evidence-based answer is that the title defense against Fenix is still expected to happen, though the attack increases the chance of complications, whether through injury storyline, altered timing, or outside interference. Until WWE announces a change, Fenix remains the challenger and Page’s first defense appears intact.

Q: Did Chad Gable's rumored injuries force WWE to abruptly end his 93-day Intercontinental title reign in Brooklyn?

There is no firm evidence that Chad Gable’s rumored injuries forced WWE to end his Intercontinental title reign in Brooklyn. What is confirmed is that Gable lost the championship to Ethan Page on the Nov. 2 episode of Raw after a planned title match finish: Gable rebounded off an exposed turnbuckle, Page hit the Egoplex, and scored the pin. WWE then immediately moved Page into a standard next-challenger storyline, with Adam Pearce booking a triple-threat match that Rey Fenix won. Nothing in the reported booking suggests an obvious emergency rewrite tied directly to Gable’s title loss. The injury talk comes from a separate Raw in Fresno, where Gable appeared to get hurt during a tag match after an awkward suplex spot at ringside. Referees and medical staff checked on him, and reports said the match may have been adjusted on the fly. But there has been no official WWE confirmation that this incident caused the title change days later, or that Gable was medically unable to continue as champion. The strongest available reading is that injury concerns may have fueled fan speculation, but the available reporting does not prove they forced an abrupt end to his 93-day reign. As of now, it is more accurate to say Gable had injury rumors around him when he dropped the title, not that those rumors have been substantiated as the reason WWE made the switch.

Q: Why did WWE controversially erase Chad Gable's legacy by immediately removing his custom side plates from the championship?

There is no evidence WWE removed Chad Gable’s side plates to “erase” his legacy. The available reporting indicates it was a standard presentation decision made immediately after Ethan Page won the Intercontinental Championship, not a confirmed attempt to diminish Gable’s reign. Page himself criticized the move. In comments to OutKick, he said he was disappointed WWE took Gable’s side plates off the belt because he viewed them as part of the championship’s history. That is the clearest direct evidence in the record: even the new champion did not support stripping away that visual link to Gable’s run. In WWE, custom side plates are typically tied to the current champion’s branding and are often swapped out quickly after a title change. That makes the timing notable but not necessarily unusual. What made this controversial is that Gable had a busy, respected reign of roughly 92 to 93 days, with multiple televised defenses and many additional live-event defenses, so removing his plates right away felt abrupt to fans and to Page. The stronger explanation is production and branding, not historical revisionism. Page has said he wants to add to the Intercontinental title’s prestige through his own reign without altering the belt itself, while also respecting the lineage before him. So the controversy comes from perception: fans saw a fast cosmetic change after a meaningful reign, but no sourced report shows WWE acted with the stated purpose of erasing Gable’s legacy.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Nov 13

Nov. 2 delivered Page’s breakthrough: he pinned Chad Gable after an Egoplex when Gable ricocheted off an exposed turnbuckle, ending a near-six-month chase that began after his Raw debut following WrestleMania 42.
May had brought an earlier setback, when Page lost his first title shot to Penta at Saturday Night’s Main Event before reversing his fortunes against Gable this month.
Page told OutKick he wants to add prestige through his own reign rather than nostalgia, saying the championship should grow through his contributions instead of design changes or callbacks to past eras.
Raw already has a challenger pipeline forming: Adam Pearce booked a No. 1 contender triple-threat on Monday, and Rey Fenix won by pinning Big Cass while Gable was not pinned.
Page is WWE’s 193rd Intercontinental champion and the third different holder of the title in 2026, setting up his first defenses as the division reshuffles around him.