Gable Steveson on WWE run: ‘I wasn’t giving 100% to the business’
Gable Steveson discussed what led to him leaving WWE in a recent interview.
The Olympic gold medalist was released by WWE in May 2024 and has since racked up a 2-0 MMA record with wins in LFA and most recently APFC. He also picked up a knockout win in under 15 seconds for the Dirty Boxing promotion in October.
During a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, Steveson said he wasn’t giving WWE 100 percent of his focus because he still had a competitive drive.
Steveson said:
“Honestly, I had a great experience. I have nothing wrong with anybody there. TKO was great. ‘Triple H’ Paul Levesque was great, Stephanie, Vince, everybody was great.“
“I just had a competitive drive that I needed to get out. And so, you know when you have that gap there, you can’t do both. I was trying to bridge both, and I wasn’t giving my 100 percent to the business. And if I’m not going to give 100 percent to the business, then you might as well X me out because it’s already over with. That’s practically how it happened.”
“I would love to go back in the future,” Steveson added before Rogan mentioned he could go back to WWE after winning the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
“I would do it again most definitely because I have no hard feelings to them and that’s how it goes.”
The Olympic gold medalist was the first athlete WWE signed as part of its NIL deal in 2021. However, while he wrestled several times at NXT live events and in SmackDown dark matches, he only ever wrestled one match on WWE programming, a double count-out against Baron Corbin at NXT Great American Bash 2023.
Steveson’s comments about his time in WWE begin around the 15-minute and 30-second mark of the interview. The video below is cued.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.