Notebook: Gable Steveson’s future uncertain after WWE release

For those wondering when Gable Steveson might appear in another WrestleMania, the answer is not soon and perhaps not ever.

Several websites that cover professional wrestling reported last weekend that Steveson, the Apple Valley High School state champion and 2021 Olympic gold medalist, was among a dozen performers released by World Wrestling Entertainment. Although WWE hasn’t officially confirmed Steveson’s release, he no longer appears on the company’s talent roster.

Steveson signed with WWE shortly after winning the 125-kilogram freestyle gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. He made an appearance at the 2022 WrestleMania, although not in a match. Steveson’s training was sidetracked when he needed surgery to correct a heart condition present since birth, but he eventually was able to return to WWE.

According to the internet database cagematch.net, Steveson wrestled 17 matches from July 2023 to February 2024, with 16 victories and one no contest. Going undefeated doesn’t necessarily mean much in the pro wrestling world. What’s more significant is that only one of those matches was televised, perhaps suggesting Steveson had not yet developed a character than connected with an audience.

He was in two WWE six-man tag-team matches involving a wrestler on the opposing team identified as “Damon Kemp.” In real life, Kemp is Steveson’s brother Bobby, also a former state high school champion at Apple Valley. The Steveson brothers’ relationship was not used in a WWE storyline. Bobby Steveson continues to wrestle for the company on its NXT brand.

Gable Steveson, 23, has not yet commented on his WWE departure. As for what’s next, there are several options. He could go to another professional wrestling company and try to work his way back to WWE; there have been instances of WWE hiring back wrestlers the company had previously released.

He also could resume his freestyle career, but he won’t be in the 2024 Olympics. Steveson did not enter the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials held April 19-20 in State College, Pennsylvania. He competed in amateur wrestling as recently as the 2023 Final X tournament, where he earned a spot in the world championships. Steveson eventually withdrew from the worlds.

He has a year of eligibility remaining at the University of Minnesota, where Steveson won NCAA heavyweight championships in 2021 and 2022. He was third in the 2019 NCAAs and was top seed at heavyweight in the 2020 national tournament before it was canceled because of COVID-19.

At Apple Valley, Steveson won four Class 3A individual championships and had a career high school record of 210-3. He is a Junior World champion and two-time Cadet World champion.

Olympic trials

Gable Steveson did not compete in the Olympic wrestling trials, but two others state high school champions from Apple Valley did.

Seth Gross (65 kilograms) and Mark Hall (86 kg) competed in the challenge bracket at the trials, with Gross going 1-2 and Hall finishing 2-2 and reaching the consolation bracket semifinals.

To illustrate how difficult it is to make the Olympic team, both Gross and Hall are former NCAA champions but did not place at the trials. Gross won his weight class at the 2018 NCAAs while wrestling for South Dakota State. Hall was a three-time NCAA finalist and champion in 2017 at Penn State.

Hall is the only wrestler in history to win six Minnesota State High School League individual championships (2011-16). Gross won state titles in three different weight classes from 2012-14). Hall was second in his weight class and Gross finished fourth in the USA Wrestling Senior Nationals in December 2023.

In addition to training for competition, Gross is an assistant wrestling coach at the University of Wisconsin. Hall, an assistant coach at the University of Pennsylvania, announced his retirement from competition after last month’s U.S. trials.