Steveson was let go by WWE for all the reasons you likely suspect.
Highlights
- Gable Steveson was released by WWE last week after wrestling just one televised match in almost three years.
- Additional details have confirmed Steveson was being paid a lot by WWE but wasn’t cutting it when it came to improvement.
- WWE likely expected Steveson to take to pro wrestling in the same way as fellow gold medalist Kurt Angle, but that didn’t happen..
WWE has released a few people already in 2024, including a crop of NXT stars last week. Among those stars was Gable Steveson, the Olympic gold medalist WWE signed almost three years ago. WWE had very high hopes for Steveson, and rightly so. Someone who seemed likely to follow in the WWE footsteps of Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar. That didn’t happen, and additional details surrounding Steveson’s release have confirmed he wasn’t up to the standard WWE was expecting.
Steveson Wasn’t Cutting It
That’s according to Wrestling Observer Radio (via Cultaholic) on which Dave Meltzer shared additional details on the release of Steveson. The veteran reporter claims Steveson “wasn’t cutting it” in WWE, and that the decision to release him was brought about due to a combo of that and the money he was being paid. An exact figure has never been reported, but when Steveson was signed to a NIL contract in 2021, it was the biggest of its kind up until that point.
Gable Steveson: How One Of WWE’s Biggest Signings In Recent Memory Led To Absolutely Nothing
It was huge news when WWE signed Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson, but he has done next to nothing for the company.
Unsurprising that Steveson was earning a lot of money in WWE for several reasons. Not only had he won an Olympic gold medal weeks before he signed with the company, but UFC was trying to tempt Steveson to the MMA world at the same time. It’s believed the reason Steveson chose WWE over UFC was because the pro wrestling company offered him significantly more money. Steveson also claimed at the time that competing in WWE was a lifelong dream of his.
Steveson’s WWE Run
That dream has now been fulfilled, but not in the way Steveson would have likely imagined it. The gold medalist’s time with WWE ends with him having wrestled a solitary televised match. Steveson’s only TV match was against Baron Corbin at last year’s Great American Bash. It ended in a double countout and fans did not react to Steveson in the way WWE would have wanted them to. He certainly wasn’t the All-American babyface WWE would have wanted him to be from day one.
Steveson was drafted to Raw weeks after he signed but never wrestled on the show. Steveson was clearly expected to take to the business as quickly as Angle did during the late ’90s, and it’s fascinating that he didn’t. Angle famously had no interest in pro wrestling during his amateur career, writing it off before signing with WWE after what he saw during an ECW show. Steveson, on the other hand, claims to be a big WWE fan yet couldn’t cut it in WWE.
