Kurt Angle has been discussing his sympathy for fellow Olympic Gold medalist Gable Steveson after the up and coming Superstar was heavily booed on his in-ring debut at NXT The Great American Bash.
Steveson signed with WWE in September 2021 having claimed an Olympic Gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. The University Of Minnesota graduate would also be named 2021 Pan American Continental Champion ahead of a switch to WWE that would see him drafted to the Raw brand in October 2021.
Stephanie McMahon would introduce Steveson to the crowd on night one of WrestleMania 38 the following April, whilst night two saw Steveson deliver a devastating suplex to the cocky Chad Gable.
Under the terms of his deal Steveson was allowed to return to college wrestling and was named as a Big Ten Athlete Of The Year in 2022 after claiming the NCAA Division I National Championship. The 23 year old left his shoes on the centre of the mat afterwards to signal his retirement.
After training with former WWE Superstar Ken ‘Mr Kennedy’ Anderson, Steveson would resurface in NXT in the summer of 2023, eventually accepting a challenge from Baron Corbin to make his professional in-ring debut at NXT The Great American Bash on July 30th 2023.
It proved to be an unpopular debut however, with fans seemingly unimpressed with the Olympian who appeared to mimic former WWE Champion Kurt Angle with his outfit and mannerisms.
Kurt Angle Supports Steveson’s WWE debut.
Speaking on a recent edition of The Kurt Angle Show, the WWE Hall Of Famer noted that he felt badly for Steveson but believed the WWE were on the right path with his on-screen character:
“I feel badly for him because he’s being compared to me at this point in time, and he hasn’t even barely started, he just started out right now so I don’t know how his future is going to be.
I know he’s really talented, really athletic, I’m not sure how he is as far as entertainment-wise, but as far as in the ring I heard he’s really good.
So they’re gonna have him copy and mimic me, this is what I believe, they’re going to have him copy and mimic me, so he can p**s the fans off, so that he starts out as a heel. because it’s easier to be heel starting out than it is babyface. So I think they’re the one who actually told him to do this stuff, I really believe that and I think the WWE is brilliant for doing it.”
Absent from TV following his debut match, Shawn Michaels has given fans an update on Steveson’s status on NXT.
H/T: WrestlingInc for the above transcription