Gable Steveson Was Not, In Fact, The “Next Kurt Angle”

Three years ago, I wrote a column about Gable Steveson and the fact that there were already tons of people comparing him to Kurt Angle at the time.

Like Angle, Steveson had a very accomplished amateur wrestling career, and that amateur wrestling career was still going on at the time. There was a ton of hype surrounding Steveson’s potential pro wrestling career long before he ever signed a deal to actually become a pro.

In the column, I compared the amateur careers of both Angle and Steveson, and then looked at what a future in the pro wrestling business could look like for Steveson based on his size, speed, athleticism, and overall look. Again, it was all complete speculation, as he was still an amateur and hadn’t even begun any sort of training as a pro, let alone had any matches.

Here we are, three years later, and what have we learned? Gable Steveson is not the next Kurt Angle.

He isn’t even the next Bobby Steveson, Gable’s older brother and someone who has carved out a somewhat regular role on NXT programming as Damon Kemp.

On May 3rd, Gable was released from the WWE contract that he signed in September 2021. In the 32 months he was a member of the WWE roster, here are the highlights of his time:

– Wrestled a total of 17 matches

– Zero matches on NXT television

– One match on NXT pay-per-view (his in-ring debut against Baron Corbin at Great American Bash 2023)

– Was a tag partner of Trick Williams in a six-man tag match at an NXT house show in November 2023

– Wrestled five pre-show dark matches before episodes of Smackdown between January 5th and February 9th, 2024

– Had a total record of 16-0-1, with 16 consecutive victories after a draw in his aforementioned Great American Bash debut

That’s it.

The first thing about that list of accomplishments that jumps out at me is his overall record. I’m not saying this was the case, but we’ve heard stories about various people coming to pro wrestling from “real” sports that refused to lose in the squared circle. Does anyone think that’s what happened here? Again, I’m not saying that, but would it surprise me? No.

The most likely option there is simply that the company had high hopes for him until the very end, and if he was out losing matches to bottom-of-the-barrel NXT talents, even on the house show circuit, that could hurt how fans view him once he starts getting a higher profile. When Kurt Angle was first starting out, he won a bunch of his house show and dark matches, but he did take the loss in six matches before making his official on-screen debut. Joey Abs, Stevie Richards, Shawn Stasiak (x2), Hardcore Holly, and Owen Hart all hold victories over Angle in that phase of his career. Take whatever you want from that.

I went back and watched Gable’s debut against Baron Corbin again. The match lasted a grand total of 6:32, and in that 6:32, Steveson’s offense almost exclusively consisted of punches and suplexes. Not that Baron Corbin would ever be mistaken for 2008 Masato Yoshino in the ring, but it was clear that even Corbin was working a slower style to help the new kid get better acclimated. My question then is the same as my question would be now… if the company wasn’t confident enough in what Gable could do in the ring to let him do anything beyond punching and suplexing, why even put him in that situation to begin with? To make it even worse, the crowd in Cedar Park, Texas was strongly in the corner of Corbin, which was one of the first times in Corbin’s pro wrestling career that he was reacted to in such a manner.

The rumors over Steveson’s release are plentiful. There are stories about him having a major attitude problem backstage. Other stories simply mention that he signed a very expensive contract, and that WWE management felt he wasn’t worth the cost and that he wasn’t advancing in his training like he could’ve and should’ve to this point. Maybe the truth is a little of both. Only a few select handful of people know the real reason(s) for Gable Steveson not being under WWE contract anymore.

When you think about the hype surrounding him before he even signed that contract, and the projections people had for him upon signing that contract, and then the results that came from signing that contract… is Gable Steveson one of the biggest disappointments in pro wrestling history?

If you were to ask wrestling fans about those biggest disappointments in the history of the business, I would make a guess that WCW comes up a lot in the answers, one way or another. Some will say that the way WCW handled their meteoric rise to the top of the industry is the biggest disappointment, while some would say it’s the way WCW took a tremendous idea in the nWo and ran it straight into the ground. Others would say Vince McMahon letting his ego and overall lack of creativity get in the way of the WCW-led “Invasion” storyline being a bigger success gets the nod here.

When you look at the sheer numbers that those disappoints were worth financially, I don’t think you can put Gable Steveson’s WWE career ahead of them on the all-time list. I do, however, think you can make a great argument for his career being the biggest disappointment as far as one singular person is concerned. There’s not a chance in hell that the contract he signed wasn’t for a shit ton of money, and the company dedicated a lot of time and effort in making him seem like he was a huge deal, even before his match against Baron Corbin took place. All that money, time, and effort put into place, and the company has almost literally zero to show for it.

Ouch.

What’s next for Mr. Steveson? According to the man’s Manager, multiple NFL teams have been in contact with him about a potential jump from pro wrestling to pro football. We’re coming up on the time of year where NFL teams start reporting for the start of training camps, and this is when teams throw feelers out to athletes from outside of football to see about bringing them in and finding diamonds in the rough.

Steveson has also been participating in MMA training with Kill Cliff Fight Club out of Florida, leading many to think a jump to MMA is in his future. KCFC has seen a lot of success in the sport, with names like Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Kamaru Usman, Robbie Lawler, Stefan Struve, Michael Chandler, Gilbert Burns, Luke Rockhold, and many more calling the gym their home at one point or another. He could be a huge acquisition for the UFC, where his world class amateur wrestling background could really come in handy.

I have no doubt that he’ll be able to bounce back in one way, shape, or form sooner than later. We’re not talking about an over-the-hill athlete who just ruined his last chance at the spotlight. He’s still going to be 23 years old for another 18 days as of the day this column is posted. Whether it’s on a football field or in the UFC octagon, it would truly stun me if we don’t see him making a splash somewhere soon.

What do you think about Gable Steveson being released from his WWE contract? Do you think WWE should’ve pulled the trigger on his release sooner? Should they have given him more opportunities to make a difference on-screen before letting him go? Is there a chance that AEW gives him a shot? What do you think he could do in the NFL? Could he be a future champion for the UFC? As always, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind.

Now, let’s move on to my Weekly Power Rankings, followed by closing things out with the list of songs I was listening to while I put this column together.

Weekly Power Rankings

Sheamus vs Gunther: Gunther’s hand print was crystal clear on Sheamus’ back. What more do you need to know? These two sickos beat the hell out of each other again, and they seem to enjoy it. That’s terrifying.

Adam Copeland vs Brody King: Speaking of terrifying, Brody King is right up there as one of the scariest wrestlers the sport has seen in a long, long time. He is the perfect person in the perfect role with the perfect group right now.

Ricochet vs Ilja Dragunov: When Dragunov was drafted to Raw, a lot of people wondered if he would be pushed as a big deal, or if he would be yet another NXT call-up that fizzled out and went nowhere. While it’s only one match, this sure made it seem like it would be the former, not the latter. This was one of Ricochet’s best main roster matches in a long time, as well. Let’s not completely ignore that. With Gunther and Dragunov both advancing in the King Of The Ring tournament, do you think we’ll get their first battle as main roster members on next week’s episode of Raw? Yes, there’s still one more round of the tournament for both of them to get through before we reach that point, but I’m legitimately curious. It seems like it could, and should, be a much bigger deal than just happening in the semifinals of the tournament, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Randy Orton vs AJ Styles: The battle to see who put on more muscle mass during their time away from the ring. My favorite part about the King Of The Ring tournament so far is that a bunch of big names are involved, and everyone is treating it like it’s a big deal. The opening round matches weren’t just people going through the motions. It actually feels like everyone in it wants to win. You can say the same about most of the first round matches in the Queen Of The Ring tournament, too. I like it.

Adam Copeland vs Kyle O’Reilly: I’m pretty sure Copeland’s goal is to wrestle everyone on the AEW roster at least once. As I’ve said before, if he keeps having super fun matches like this, I’m all for it.

Bryan Danielson & Claudio Castagnoli vs Top Flight: Do you remember when Top Flight was viewed as one of the future cornerstones of the AEW tag division? A lot has happened since the beginning of their time with the company, and it certainly feels like they’ve cooled down a ton. Then again, the AEW tag division seems like it consists of nothing more than FTR and the Young Bucks most of the time, even if a different team is in possession of the Tag Team Titles, so I guess that makes sense.

Jey Uso vs Finn Bálor: Like I said earlier, it’s great to see the competitors in the King & Queen Of The Ring tournaments treating it like a big deal. Here’s yet another match where wrestlers seemed to work extra hard with something on the line to compete for. More of that, please.

Dax Harwood vs Tommy Billington: He has his uncle’s name, nickname, and his entire face… it’s almost eerie to watch Dynamite Kid’s nephew wrestling in 2024. With that said, his AEW debut was entertaining. It might not have been as “clean” as I hoped it would be, but the young Dynamite Kid showed a lot of promise and potential in what was the biggest match of his career.

Logan Paul: I know some folks have been dumping on the idea, but I like having Logan Paul as the next challenger for Cody Rhodes. The match itself is going to be really good, and the crowd in Saudi Arabia will react well to Logan, just as they did when he faced Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel 2022. What I absolutely, positively do NOT like about it is both the Undisputed WWE Title and the United States Title on the line. It seems people were confused about the “Champion vs Champion” billing, because that doesn’t always mean titles are on the line (WWE having Raw champions face Smackdown champions at recent editions of Survivor Series, for example), but Cody himself has been tweeting that both belts will be up for grabs. The last thing WWE needs right now is for more titles to be combined. We just went through all of that with The Bloodline holding a bunch of titles, and we JUST got the two sets of tag straps split up. Can we not do this again? Do we get a disqualification or a countout?

Wes Lee vs Josh Briggs: Even if this match ended up being of poor quality, which it was not, I might have included it here. It’s great to see Wes Lee back in action after a serious injury. Having a fun one here was just icing on the cake.

Anarchy In The Arena: These matches are perfectly named, as they’re nothing but pure anarchy. I’m cool with getting to see another one at Double Or Nothing. I know that the AEW haters will mention the “blood and guts” that the company loves to deliver on a relatively frequent basis, but I’m not against it in situations like this. If the second match on a random episode of Rampage features two bloody competitors… sure, that’s worth complaining about, in my opinion. This is a much more worthy opportunity to feature the levels of violence and chaos that the AEW fan base enjoys.

Natalya vs Iyo Sky: Once again, we got two competitors that stepped their games up in an attempt to advance in the King/Queen Of The Ring tournament. Week in and week out, month in and month out, year in and year out… Vince McMahon’s WWE featured almost nothing but matches with next to nothing on the line, and the same people facing each other time and time again. I appreciate Triple H for seemingly moving away from that nonsense.

This Week’s Playlist: “collage” by Gunna… “one of wun” by Gunna… “Hungry For Life” by Bad Wolves & Chris Daughtry… “Nihilism” by Vended… “Ronald” by Falling In Reverse, Tech N9ne & Alex Terrible… “All That I Can Give” by The Plot In You… “Spring Love” by Stevie B… “Party Your Body” by Stevie B… “I Wanna Be The One” by Stevie B… “Because I Love You (The Postman Song)” by Stevie B… “Waiting For Your Love” by Stevie B… “Dream About You” by Stevie B… “Tha Chop” by Baby Bash, A-Wax & Jay Tee… “Tired Of Being Alone” by Al Green… “You Are Everything” by The Stylistics… “I’ll Be Around” by The Spinners… “Reasons” by Earth, Wind & Fire… “Someone To Hold” by Trey Lorenz… “Just To Be Close To You” by Trey Lorenz… “There You Are” by Sam Salter… “Still Loving You” by Scorpions… “18 and Life” by Skid Row… “I Remember You” by Skid Row… “Cowboys From Hell” by Pantera… “Cemetery Gates” by Pantera… “Domination” by Pantera… “Shattered” by Pantera… “The Art Of Shredding” by Pantera… “Mmhmm” by BigXthaPlug… “Texas” by BigXthaPlug