WWE is beyond excited about the potential held by Olympic gold medalist and NCAA Champion Gable Steveson, and looks for the Champion to be one of their next major stars. Steveson recently retired from the world of amateur wrestling, leaving his shoes on the mat after his defeating Cohlton Schultz for the NCAA Heavyweight National Championship. His time in amateur wrestling might not be at its end though, as Gophers wrestling coach Brandon Eggum recently hinted he wants to return in a recent interview with TwinCities.com, but it would be something he would have to work out with WWE.
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“I know he would like to wrestle, and he loves competing. Really, it comes down to making that work,” Eggum said. “It would have to be something he works out with the WWE and Vince McMahon. Those details … it hasn’t gotten that far. It’s one thing if he said, ‘No way, I’m not doing it.’ … But he has the eligibility, he’s capable and he has interest in doing it.”
Steveson signed a multi-year contract with WWE and has already made a big splash with several appearances at WrestleMania 38, including a fun moment involving Chad Gable in the ring. WWE could end up letting him return for his last year of eligibility, but would have to write him off TV for a while to make that happen, at least it would seem.
Steveson has been compared to Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar several times, and during an interview with After The Bell he addressed those comparisons and if there is any pressure.
“It’s fine. I don’t mind the pressure,” Steveson said. “People compare me to Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar, it’s actually really cool. Kurt Angle is a legend. They’re both Hall of Famers at the end of the day. To be compared to those guys is something crazy. It’s good and bad. Kurt won a gold medal and I won a gold medal. The difference is, he had a broken neck and I won it in the last one second. My gold medal doesn’t exist because if I don’t have a broken neck, it’s gone.
“The chip is always going to be there because people surround that pressure that I like around me to be a WWE superstar and live up to that hype,” he added. “That Kurt Angle hype is really good and it drives me to be better than he is. If I don’t reach that point, I know I tried and did my best. At the end of the day, my goal is to be the best version of Gable, not Kurt Angle, not Brock Lesnar. Even with their support and their look, I want to be the person I want to be.”
What do you want to see Steveson do in WWE? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
