Gable Steveson, who signed with WWE in 2021 through their Next In Line program, recently made a return to the world of amateur wrestling by competing at the 2023 US Open Wrestling Championships, as approved by WWE.
Steveson, during a recent interview with the Associated Press, provided an update on his status with WWE and even teased his arrival on television.
The report notes Stevenson has split his time between training in Minneapolis with Brandon Eggum, his college coach at the University of Minnesota, and the WWE Performance Training Center in Orlando, FL. He now will chase a spot at next year’s Paris Olympics.
“The itch and fire will never go away…and I feel like if you ask any competitor, old or young, I think it’s always there. But some people just don’t have the bodies to do it because they’re a little older. But I think me just turning 23, I still had that extra fire and I want to see what I could do. I wanted to test my limits. And so I stayed ready just in case the time came where I could come back.“
Because crowds were limited at the Tokyo Games because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stevenson felt he did not get the full Olympic experience and wants to provide it for his fans and his family.
“I need to have that Paris experience in front of a packed house…I need to have them see what it’s like to see Gable Steveson in person. Having been in Tokyo and having no fans was — it was okay because I still won an Olympic gold. But I want to have that experience of having my family in the front row. They need to see it live.”
Steveson returned to amateur action at the U.S. Open this past April and dominated some of the nation’s best heavyweights by a combined score of 44-1.
Steveson also told AP that fans will see the best version of him yet.
“I think body maturity is coming into play…and I think now it’s at a stage where I have seen my true physical strength and my true physical attributes and everything is coming to light. I think now that this is a different person again, with things that people have not seen.”
Steveson also noted that expects to be seen on WWE programming soon, though he would not say to AP when. He then said that the training process to become a pro wrestler takes longer than critics realize.
“I am still doing my thing…I have changed my diet, my body appearance. I wanted to be the best thing ever so when I did go on TV, it was going to be a sight that nobody has seen before. My time is coming and it’s coming sooner than a lot of people think.”
The AP report concluded with Eggum saying he believes Steveson has a bright future ahead in WWE.
“He’ll do great and he’ll be a star there, no question about it…but I also knew that leaving the world of competing and going out and showing the people what he’s capable of doing on the mat, that would be something that wouldn’t be very easy for him as well. So when the opportunity came back…I guess I wasn’t super surprised by that.”
Last September Steveson underwent a heart procedure to treat Wolf-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome.
He last appeared on WWE television back on the December 9, 2022 episode of SmackDown as part of a segment with WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle and the Alpha Academy. Other brief appearances were at SummerSlam 2021 and WrestleMania 38.