For Gable Steveson, it looks like Olympics first, WWE second.
While the Olympic gold medalist had mentioned last month that he might have his first official WWE match shortly after WrestleMania, that no longer appears to be the case. USA Wrestling announced this week that Steveson had registered for the U.S. Open, marking his return to amateur wrestling after 13 months away.
Steveson left his shoes in the center of the mat after last year’s NCAA Championships, which traditionally serves as a sign that an athlete is finished with the sport for good. However, Steveson has been open about his desire to potentially compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, and the U.S. Open is the first event that helps wrestlers qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials.
As the first signee to WWE’s Next In Line NIL program, Steveson appeared to be the example the company could use for college athletes looking to find a path to becoming full-time pro wrestlers. That program is still going strong, with its third wave of talent joining in late January, but no one has graduated from NIL to the roster yet.
Steveson has come the closest, as he’s appeared on WWE broadcasts several times. At WrestleMania 38, he showed off some of his skills by executing a belly-to-belly suplex on Chad Gable before getting some props from the Street Profits and RK-Bro. And on the December 9, 2022 episode of SmackDown in Pittsburgh, Steveson came to the aid of fellow Olympic wrestling legend Kurt Angle, helping him drive off Alpha Academy.
That most recent appearance gave fans hope that Steveson would actually be added to the roster soon, especially with a new version of the WWE Draft coming up this spring. The resumption of his amateur wrestling career makes that unlikely, and it’s fair to think he might not circle back to WWE until 2025 if he makes the U.S. Olympic team.
In the meantime, you can watch Steveson’s return to the mat live on FloWrestling, as the U.S. Open takes place April 26-30 in Las Vegas.