When Gable Steveson signed with WWE in September 2021 he was expected to make a big splash with the company sooner rather than later.
The Olympic gold medallist was even drafted to Monday Night Raw back in October 2021 before making a cameo at WrestleMania 38. However, he hasn’t appeared on WWE television in a meaningful way since, aside from featuring as part of Kurt Angle’s birthday celebration on SmackDown in December 2022.
While he did undergo a procedure due to suffering from Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, his continued absence has left fans baffled.
To add further confusion, Steveson recently confirmed his return to amateur wrestling.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer laid out WWE’s original plans for the star. Meltzer revealed that both Steveson and Bron Breakker were expected to have made an impact on the main roster by now, but that hasn’t happened. He added that Steveson “hasn’t lit the world on fire” in training.
“The original idea was he was gonna do college wrestling that season, which he did, and they were gonna bring him to a couple of Raws during the year. He wasn’t gonna wrestle, but he was gonna make appearances to build up his debut which was gonna be at WrestleMania. And yeah, never appeared, still hasn’t appeared…..He’d retired after winning the Olympic gold medal, actually after winning the NCAA Championship last year because he came back from the Olympics to win the NCAA Championship. Then he retired and he was gonna go into WWE and all that.
Obviously that has not materialized. He did have the surgery to repair the Wolff’s Heart (Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome), but his progress has not… he hasn’t lit the world on fire by any means and they haven’t put him on for that very reason. In January of 2022, over a year ago, I remember being told Gable Steveson is going to be fast-tracked to the main roster right after the college season is over and Bron Breakker was going to be called up pretty soon as well, which also didn’t happen,”
Gable Steveson Aiming For Second Olympic Gold Medal
Speaking shortly before confirming his return to amateur wrestling, Gable Steveson declared his intention to compete at the 2024 Olympics. The star said he believed WWE would be supportive of his efforts.
Despite seemingly shifting his efforts elsewhere, he stated that he expects to make his WWE in-ring debut soon.
Steveson’s brother Bobby currently appears on NXT under the name Damon Kemp.
H/t to WrestlingNews.Co