Prior to making their move to the professional scene, we have often seen athletes achieve great things for their country. Be it in boxing or wrestling, some of the most renowned fighters started off making their name elsewhere. As such, one such athlete who had found a lot of initial success is Gable Steveson.
For those unaware, Gable Steveson is an American wrestler who previously claimed the 2020 Summer Olympic gold medal. In addition to this, he is a two-time NCAA Division I national champion as well. Not only that, his list of accolades from wrestling makes for an impressive reading. Owing to his skills and talent, Steveson was viewed as a prodigy and much like Daniel Cormier, was eventually meant to be the next big UFC heavyweight star.
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However, as it turns out, Steveson, at the ripe age of just 21 years gave up his ambitions of winning another Olympic medal or just competing in NCAA Division I. Despite being blessed with the qualities and athleticism to be a top athlete, Gable seemingly gave it all up and signed a contract with the WWE instead.
Henry Cejudo criticizes Gable Steveson for his career choice
Recently, in an episode of Pound 4 Pound by Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman, the topic of Gable Steveson, abandoning his wrestling career for WWE was brought up. According to Chael Sonnen, the youngster threw away all the promise he had to ‘fake wrestle’ for a ‘measly’ $2 million contract from Vince McMahon.
As such, Cejudo, a former Olympic medallist himself, also had some strong words for the athlete:
“They’re going to regret them giving the best years of their youth away to chasing entertainment and money. Like Gable Steveson, at the age of 21, I have never seen a heavyweight move like that. This dude could go on to win another Olympic Gold medal, and set himself apart from the rest. But yet now, the WWE is not allowing him to go to the Olympic trials because he has ‘Tuesday night SmackDown'”.
Although Henry seemingly makes a logical point, co-host Kamaru Usman had a different take. According to him, Steveson is doing the most he can to ‘secure the bag’ for his significant other, his future children, and his family while he still can. Thus, considering his age and what more he can go on to do, Steveson’s decision to pursue WWE right now might not be such a bad idea.
Gable Steveson’s WWE career so far
Although Kamaru Usman also made a very valid point, we must also take into consideration what Chael Sonnen had to say. According to ‘The Bad Guy’, Gable Steveson was not even getting the recognition he deserved in the WWE, nor has his career so far been anything to write home about. Initially, the wrestler started with a brief appearance at the 2021 SummerSlam.
Thereafter, in the 2021 draft, he was assigned to the Raw roster. With that, he would then go on to make his first appearance in April 2022 at WrestleMania 38, where he was introduced by Stephanie McMahon. One of the first arcs in his story was regarding his name, owing to Chad Gable being his namesake on the roster. One of Gable’s most notable appearances was alongside fellow Olympic gold medallist Kurt Angle on SmackDown.
However, due to his low marketability, he was slowly shifted to NXT for further development. Eventually, he was removed from NXT as well, with Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels stating scheduling issues to be the cause. Since then, Steveson marked his return on January 5, 2024, defeating Cedric Alexander in a dark match at SmackDown: New Year’s Revolution.