Former Gopher wrestler Gable Steveson reportedly released by WWE

Chris Schad for Bring Me The Sports | May 4, 2024

Minnesota's Gable Steveson reacts after his match at 285 pounds in the finals during the sixth / Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen /

According to Dave Meltzer of the F4W Online, former Minnesota Golden Gophers wrestler Gable Steveson has been released by World Wrestling Entertainment.

Steveson was a highly sought-after recruit for WWE after dominating at Apple Valley High School and winning the national championship at heavyweight with the Gophers in 2021 and 2022.

Steveson went on to sign an NIL deal with WWE in the spring of 2021 and was selected by the Monday Night Raw brand in the 2021 WWE Draft. But Steveson moved on to international competition shortly after, winning the gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. 

The 23-year-old had periodic appearances on WWE television following his gold medal victory including a spot during WrestleMania 38 in 2022 and another with Hall of Famer and fellow Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle on SmackDown later that year, but Steveson didn't appear full-time on television until he was assigned to WWE's developmental brand NXT in the summer of 2023.

Steveson had his lone televised match in a no-contest against Baron Corbin at The Great American Bash last July, but the match was poorly received and Steveson was booed by fans at the event. 

Steveson signed up for the freestyle division at the Senior World Championships following the match but pulled out of the tournament a couple of weeks later. He has worked several non-televised dark matches since with his last one coming on Feb. 9 and noted his improvement during a recent interview on the JAXXON PODCAST.

"I think there's a great opportunity to do a lot of great things [under TKO with WWE & UFC] but right now, I'm loving the WWE process, everything is going really good," Steveson said. "The dark (non-televised) matches are going really well. I'm getting better every time so I'm focused on one thing at a time. But obviously, at the end of the day, competitiveness is always going to be there and there's always the what if you can? But where I am right now with the business is really good and I'm happy where I am.

Steveson was part of several releases in the NXT brand and Meltzer noted that if WWE still saw potential, he would not have been let go. Steveson's brother, Bobby is still employed by WWE and competes under the ring name Damon Kemp in NXT.

Despite the release, Steveson still has options including a career in mixed martial arts and other professional wrestling companies including All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.