Gable Steveson opens up.
Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson signed an NIL deal with WWE in 2021. WWE released Steveson in May 2024, and he only wrestled in one televised match during his time with the company. On November 12, the University of Minnesota announced that Steveson was returning to the school to wrestle.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Gable Steveson discussed his departure from WWE. He was asked to comment on what happened.
“When I got to WWE, everything was great, and everything went great the whole time. It just wasn’t the right time. After I signed with WWE, I tried to go back to wrestle, and you can’t do consistently the one foot in, one foot out of everything, and as time went on, it just wasn’t the right thing. I wanted to keep wrestling and keep going in that direction, and WWE had a different direction. Obviously, it’s no hard feelings. It’s never bad blood. I did see Paul Levesque, Triple H, at the UFC event, and we had a brief convo, and everything was very civil and very nice. It was great to see him and Stephanie backstage. Everything is good. There’s no hard feelings on my end. They knew at the time that I wanted to keep being competitive, and it was just a little bump in the road, and it happens," Steveson said.
When asked when he started to feel like WWE was not the best fit, Steveson noted that he was not sure, but it built up over time. He said that it wasn't the right time. He was then asked whether it was his decision to leave or WWE's choice to part ways.
“I’m not sure. We’ll just leave it as everything’s all good. There’s no tensions, there’s no animosity against anything. If the opportunity definitely came around in the future and I would love to put both feet back in and take off and go run with it, and I would love that. But business is always gonna be business. You gotta take risks in your life, and some of the risks don’t work, and that one didn’t work, and there’s no problems with me, I’m hands-off, and time will always come back around hopefully," Steveson said.
Steveson was then asked whether he saw the end of his time with WWE coming, or if it was a shock. He stated that it was a build-up, but it still came out of left field. Helwani then asked Steveson why he stayed quiet following the news of his departure.
"I stayed quiet just because there was no hard feelings when I did get let go, and there’s still no hard feelings now. I have nothing to say about the business because when I sat down with Vince [McMahon] and Nick Khan and Triple H, it was all love, that’s when I first met them in 2021. From then on, there was no problems. I took it as a hit on the chin, a humbling experience, and you guys keep moving forward. If you are bitter about something, then there must have been a problem, and there was no problems with me," Steveson said.
Steveson previously commented on his WWE departure by saying that it was not the right time. Check out his comments here.
Following his WWE exit, Steveson tried to transition to the NFL. He signed with the Buffalo Bills and played with them in the preseason, but they released him in August.
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