WWE Hall of Famer Booker T has given his thoughts on why Gable Steveson failed to thrive in the company.
Steveson was signed in 2021 and seen as a major prospect due to his collegiate wrestling success and 2020 Olympic gold medal. But his time in WWE was ultimately unsuccessful.
He appeared on WWE television briefly, such as at WrestleMania 38 and Kurt Angle’s birthday celebration before competing in his debut match against Baron Corbin at NXT Great American Bash. The match was poorly received and Steveson was booed heavily throughout.
His future was then cast into doubt when he was removed from the NXT roster. He returned briefly before being released on May 3rd, 2024.
His release was surpsing but not unexpected and the current NXT commentator has revealed why he think it happened.
What did Booker T say about Gable Steveson not succeeding in WWE?
Speaking on The Hall of Fame the multi-time World Champion believes the Olympian struggled to commit to either professional or ameteaur wrestling.
As far as the build-up, you can say that….what people were expecting to see from Gable Stevenson just because he had to look at everything you check off a box, go, I mean Gable, yet all of that man, and for it not to pan out, I think it was him, not really.
What word should I use? Buying all in, not really saying, ‘Man, I’m really gonna throw everything into doing this and being the best at it.’ Yeah, one foot in the door and one foot out. Let’s just say that. That’s a better analogy.
Could he have cut it and really pulled this thing off? Probably. I really think that [amatuer] wrestling bug was still in his system, and it was hard for him to really get it out. He still had something to prove, and there again, just having one foot in and one foot out. I think that was his problem. h/t to WrestlingNews.co
Following the Olympian’s release his agent sent a statement to Ariel Helwani stating that Steveson has several surprising prospects in his future.