The man dubbed the “next Brock Lesnar” made a surprise appearance on the June 20th episode of NXT, just days after it was reported that he will be returning to amateur wrestling.
Gable Steveson signed with WWE amid much fanfare but has since found his appearances on television limited, despite being publicly drafted to Raw in 2021. In recent weeks it was reported that the Olympic Gold Medalist will be returning to the amateur ranks and hopes to compete at the Olympics in 2024.
Despite this, Steveson appeared on NXT offering to help Eddy Thorpe train for his Raw Underground match with Damon Kemp. The star said that there’s no one who knows Kemp better than him, a reference to the fact that Steveson and Kemp are actually brothers.
Speaking on a recent episode of Sunday Night’s Main Event, Dave Melter broke down WWE’s original plans for Steveson which included presenting him as the “next Brock Lesnar.”
“This is what I was told originally when they first announced the deal. It was (that) he was gonna be the new Brock Lesnar and they were going to send coaches to Minnesota (and) get a place in Minneapolis and during the wrestling season, they were gonna have him also train as a pro wrestler, which probably wasn’t a good idea to do both at the same time.
“But that was their idea and that he would do scattered Raw’s over the course of the year. Remember they drafted him for Raw and he would make appearances and they would build it up and things like that.”
Brock Lesnar Currently On Hiatus
Brock Lesnar has been absent from WWE since defeating Cody Rhodes at Night of Champions. With Lesnar’s win the score between the two men now stands at 1-1, and Rhodes is desperate to finish the rivalry.
The American Nightmare has repeatedly called out Lesnar, but The Beast remains on hiatus. However, it has been reported that Rhodes will finally get his wish at SummerSlam in a special gimmick match not seen in WWE for a number of years.