On the latest Hall of Fame podcast with his co-host Brad Gilmore, WWE Hall of Famer Booker T talked about the recent WWE NXT talent cuts that included Gable Steveson, Drew Gulak, and others.
Steveson, an Olympic gold medalist, was a top prospect for WWE and one of its biggest NIL signings. Steveson signed a multi-year contract with WWE in 2021. WWE had plans for him to be featured on Raw after WrestleMania 38 with Triple H, but that was nixed due to medical issues. Before being let go, he worked one televised match for WWE and was working SmackDown dark matches. Here are the highlights:
On whether Gable Steveson is the biggest flop in WWE history: “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.”
On whether Gable’s problem was his only focus being on pro wrestling: “Exactly, I think that’s what it was—more than anything. 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.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit The Hall of Fame with Booker T and Brad Gilmore with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Quotes were transcribed by Jim for WrestlingNews.co.
