WWE isn’t known for always showing restraint when it comes to new talent it’s excited about, which makes the slow, cautious approach it’s taken with Gable Steveson all the more intriguing. The company reportedly signed Steveson to a contract in September 2021, and has used the Olympic gold medalist as a success story to promote its Next In Line (NIL) program.
Steveson made appearances at WrestleMania 38 and got the rub from fellow Olympic hero Kurt Angle on a December 2022 episode of Raw. That made it seem like his debut might be imminent.
Spoiler: It was not. Steveson has yet to have his first WWE match, the company hasn’t announced when it might be, and he hasn’t been on TV yet in 2023. Despite all that, he sounded optimistic in an interview with MMA Fighting (h/t Fightful) that he is “pretty close” to making his debut — perhaps even right after WWE’s biggest show of the year.
I’m just waiting for that call and waiting for that time. Some days it’s stressful because I never know when it will come and I’m used to amateur wrestling where it’s like, ‘Hey, we have the Olympics in three months or we have the Olympic trials in two months, be ready for it.’
Right now, you’re going through the motions with no goal, and I wish I could have that goal in sight and put forth and give people real answers when I’m debuting, but it will be coming really, really soon. And when I mean really, really soon, probably after [WrestleMania] or just a little bit after that.
One caveat that could affect those plans: Steveson hopes to compete in the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Because the pandemic pushed the past Games back a year, there’s a rare opportunity for him to wrestle for gold twice between the ages of 21 and 25 (he’d be only 24 when Paris comes around).
Obviously, he’d need time away from WWE to train and compete, which he’s hopeful the company would give him. But that also means it might not make sense to push him too hard prior if he’s just going to be away for a big chunk of next year.
Still, WWE knows from its experience with Angle what the potential upside of an Olympic gold medal wrestler can be, and it’s Hall of Fame level. We may know in just a few months if it believes Steveson is ready to start that journey.