Decorated collegiate wrestler and Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson looked back on his failed WWE run recently, admitting that he wasn’t giving his full effort to professional wrestling during that time.
The 25-year-old signed a NIL deal with WWE back in 2021, attempting to parlay his athletic success into a career in professional wrestling. However, by 2024 he was among numerous WWE talents to get cut from the roster, departing with just one televised match to his name.
Steveson said this week on the Joe Rogan Experience that he was still focused on possibly competing again in the future while trying out pro wrestling. Dividing his energy into two different pursuits at the same time explained why he couldn’t make his WWE run work, he said.
“I had a great experience,” Steveson explained about his time with WWE. “I have nothing wrong with anybody there. TKO was great, Triple H, Paul Levesque was great. Stephanie, Vince. I just had a competitive drive that I needed to get out. You know when that gap is there, you can’t do both. I was trying to bridge both and I wasn’t giving my 100 percent to the business. And if I’m not gonna give 100 percent to the business, then you might as well ‘X’ me out. It’s already over with. That’s practically how it happened.”
Steveson returned to NCAA-level wrestling following his WWE run, and more recently made his debut in MMA. The ex-University of Minnesota wrestler isn’t against giving pro wrestling another shot, but said he won’t look at that opportunity until he achieves success in MMA.
“I would love to go back in the future. I would love to do a sport, go out there and dominate [then return] … I would do it again, most definitely. I have no hard feelings to them, and that’s how that goes.”
