WWE’s Gable Steveson is set to make his long-awaited return to international wrestling competition.
Steveson, an Olympic gold medalist wrestler, took to Instagram on Tuesday night to announce that he will be at the 2023 U.S. Open competition, which takes place from Wednesday, April 26 through Sunday, April 30 at the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa in Las Vegas, NV. You can see the brief clip below.
Team USA Wrestling and FloWrestling later confirmed that Gable was announcing his return to amateur wrestling competition with his registration in the U.S. Open.
Steveson has hinted that he wanted to make his return to the mat in recent media appearances as the 2024 Olympic cycle draws near. Tuesday’s announcement closes out a 13-month hiatus from the sport dating back to last season’s NCAA Championships, where Steveson left his wrestling shoes in the center of the mat, which traditionally signals the end of a competitor’s career.
Team USA speculated that the U.S. Open could be the first event in which Steveson could come back to the mat as the tournament serves as the first step in qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Trials next summer.
The former Minnesota Gopher heavyweight great will return to action as a representative of the Gopher Wrestling Club, Minnesota’s regional training center for international styles. He will be competing alongside fellow GWC athlete Hayden Zillmer, the 2022 World Team member at 125 kilograms. Fans will be able to watch the U.S. Open live on FloWrestling later this month.
Steveson amassed an 85-2 career record with 60 bonus-point victories in his four seasons at the University of Minnesota. He collected two NCAA titles, three Big Ten titles, and two Dan Hodge trophies, a first. He also claimed the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
WWE has not commented on Gable’s announcement as of this writing.
Steveson, brother to WWE NXT Superstar Damon Kemp, signed a WWE contract in the summer of 2021, right around the time of his brief appearance at SummerSlam that year. It was later announced that Steveson was the first to be under a Next In Line contract after WWE launched their NIL program. Steveson was drafted to the RAW brand in the 2021 WWE Draft that October, but as of this writing he is still not listed as a RAW Superstar on the official WWE website. Steveson then appeared during Night 1 of WrestleMania 38 in 2022, introduced by then-WWE Chairwoman & Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon. He returned for Night 2 of WrestleMania 38 to confront Alpha Academy’s Gable, finishing him off with a suplex. Steveson then appeared on the December 9, 2022 edition of SmackDown from Pittsburgh to help WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, a fellow-Olympic gold medalist, take out Alpha Academy with a milk truck.
Steveson had been training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, and at one point he was training under former WWE Superstar Ken Anderson. It was revealed back in October 2022 that Steveson was treated for Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, and that the process delayed his WWE training as it spanned over multiple summer months. It was then reported in December 2022, around the time of the SmackDown debut, that WWE had talks about bringing Steveson into the storylines, but nothing has happened since then.
As noted, Gable mentioned in a March 2023 interview that his WWE debut would be happening soon as he was “pretty close to debuting and being on-screen.” He also talked about wanting to compete in the 2024 Olympics.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
Follow Marc on Twitter at @this_is_marc. Send any news, tips or corrections to us by clicking here.
The post Gable Steveson Announces Return to International Wrestling Competition appeared first on Wrestling Headlines.
WWE’s Gable Steveson is set to make his long-awaited return to international wrestling competition.
Steveson, an Olympic gold medalist wrestler, took to Instagram on Tuesday night to announce that he will be at the 2023 U.S. Open competition, which takes place from Wednesday, April 26 through Sunday, April 30 at the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa in Las Vegas, NV. You can see the brief clip below.
Team USA Wrestling and FloWrestling later confirmed that Gable was announcing his return to amateur wrestling competition with his registration in the U.S. Open.
Steveson has hinted that he wanted to make his return to the mat in recent media appearances as the 2024 Olympic cycle draws near. Tuesday’s announcement closes out a 13-month hiatus from the sport dating back to last season’s NCAA Championships, where Steveson left his wrestling shoes in the center of the mat, which traditionally signals the end of a competitor’s career.
Team USA speculated that the U.S. Open could be the first event in which Steveson could come back to the mat as the tournament serves as the first step in qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Trials next summer.
The former Minnesota Gopher heavyweight great will return to action as a representative of the Gopher Wrestling Club, Minnesota’s regional training center for international styles. He will be competing alongside fellow GWC athlete Hayden Zillmer, the 2022 World Team member at 125 kilograms. Fans will be able to watch the U.S. Open live on FloWrestling later this month.
Steveson amassed an 85-2 career record with 60 bonus-point victories in his four seasons at the University of Minnesota. He collected two NCAA titles, three Big Ten titles, and two Dan Hodge trophies, a first. He also claimed the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
WWE has not commented on Gable’s announcement as of this writing.
Steveson, brother to WWE NXT Superstar Damon Kemp, signed a WWE contract in the summer of 2021, right around the time of his brief appearance at SummerSlam that year. It was later announced that Steveson was the first to be under a Next In Line contract after WWE launched their NIL program. Steveson was drafted to the RAW brand in the 2021 WWE Draft that October, but as of this writing he is still not listed as a RAW Superstar on the official WWE website. Steveson then appeared during Night 1 of WrestleMania 38 in 2022, introduced by then-WWE Chairwoman & Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon. He returned for Night 2 of WrestleMania 38 to confront Alpha Academy’s Gable, finishing him off with a suplex. Steveson then appeared on the December 9, 2022 edition of SmackDown from Pittsburgh to help WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, a fellow-Olympic gold medalist, take out Alpha Academy with a milk truck.
Steveson had been training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, and at one point he was training under former WWE Superstar Ken Anderson. It was revealed back in October 2022 that Steveson was treated for Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, and that the process delayed his WWE training as it spanned over multiple summer months. It was then reported in December 2022, around the time of the SmackDown debut, that WWE had talks about bringing Steveson into the storylines, but nothing has happened since then.
As noted, Gable mentioned in a March 2023 interview that his WWE debut would be happening soon as he was “pretty close to debuting and being on-screen.” He also talked about wanting to compete in the 2024 Olympics.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
Follow Marc on Twitter at @this_is_marc. Send any news, tips or corrections to us by clicking here.