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Mike CoppingerESPN
Gable Steveson, the heaviest freestyle wrestler who won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last month, has signed a multi-year deal with the WWE, Steveson told ESPN.
The 21-year-old signed an agreement with NIL with the WWE that will allow him to attend the University of Minnesota during his senior year and defend the Division I national heavyweight championship. WWE will set up a remote training center for Steveson, near campus, where he will learn the best points of working in the ring with WWE coaches.
He will also have access to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, where his brother, Bobby Steveson, currently trains. After Gable Steveson graduates in May, he will begin his multi-year talent contract with the WWE; he will be a full-time performer for the company (but will also appear on WWE programming during the school year).
“I’ve been in the WWE since I was very young,” said Steveson, WWE’s first gold medalist since Kurt Angle. “I was with guys like Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman for a long time. So growing up watching them, being me an animator on the wrestling mat, I thought it was the right choice.”
Steveson, 6 feet 1 and 265 pounds, held talks with the UFC and also contemplated pursuing a career in the NFL; it was a hot commodity coming out of the Olympic gold medal victory in Tokyo, a last-minute victory over Geno Petriashvili that he celebrated with a lap behind.
Sources told ESPN’s Marc Raimondi that the UFC wanted Steveson to gain experience in the regional MMA scene before taking him to Dana White’s Contender Series to compete for a contract. The formula would have been similar to what the UFC did with former NFL All-Pro Greg Hardy. But Steveson said, “We’ve never talked about it, so I have no idea.”
“We all saw his fitness before and at the Olympics,” said Nick Khan, WWE president and general manager of revenue. “What we also saw was that Gable has both charisma and ability. Both marketing and ability are of great importance to us.”
“This is just the starting line and very close to the finish line. So our investment is based on what we think of Gable now and what we believe can become bigger.”
WWE has a rich history of transforming top freestyle wrestlers into main event superstars. Angle won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and noted that success in the long run as a WWE Champion and as a protagonist. Lesnar, who, like Steveson, won the national championship at the University of Minnesota, is currently signed to the WWE, where he appears as one of the company’s biggest stars.
Steveson calls the UFC heavyweight champion “great mentor for me” and predicts a WrestleMania match against Lesnar in the not-too-distant future.
“Being able to learn how to hit and with the wrestling background I have right now, I think I can adapt to all of that very quickly,” Steveson said. “I think with the charisma, the confidence and the attitude that I bring to the wrestling mat, it will translate very quickly into the WWE, and I feel like I can … get on screen and have a good role and know what to do- perfectly. “
Meanwhile, Steveson will focus on the college wrestling mat, where he will try to defend his national championship while completing his studies. He grew up in Apple Valley, Minnesota, watching Paul “Triple H” Levesque spit water into the air at WrestleMania as a member of D-Generation X. Now, he will learn the trade of a WWE superstar, and this same man will do it. be an integral part of its development.
“Gable impressed us long before he became a U.S. Olympic gold medalist,” said Levesque, who is WWE’s vice president of strategy and global talent development. “He has all the tools to be a generational talent – a top-notch athlete with size, speed, determination and the ability to captivate audiences with his incredible charisma.
“The introduction of NIL allows us to create a more direct path from college to WWE, an advantage for athletes and for the WWE universe, as Gable will have an immediate presence with our company while working to obtain the his title and defending his national championship The future is bright for him in the WWE “.
Steveson said his big moment “could come sooner than you think.”
And what about this important finishing move?
“I think I have one in my head,” he said. “… It’s crazy the time I follow them and now I’ve come to the point where I’m going to go out in front of WrestleManias and SummerSlams, and people will make my signature look when I’m an old man too.”