Was Gable Steveson really that bad at pro wrestling?

[ChickenBrother]

@Pittie Petey and Sherbros who follow pro wrestling, was Steveson really that bad? I haven't followed WWE in years but watching the matches below, he didn't look THAT bad although he's missing the charisma and credible gimmick that Lesnar and Kurt Angle had off the bat.

Here's his debut televised match where the crowd starts cheering for his heel opponent:




And here's his final dark match that convinced WWE to cut him. This was after 2+ years to learn the craft and develop a gimmick and to me, he looks like a random jobber here. The crowd cheers for his heel opponent (who's trying to put him over) while booing or ignoring Steveson lol:




But I think he had some convincing segments. This one looks pretty darn OK to me:




Does anyone think he had what it takes to be a WWE star, had they kept him? For context, this dude is arguably the greatest college HW wrestler ever (definitely top 2 with Kyle Snyder) and won an Olympic freestyle gold medal during his (redshirt) sophomore year. He was also briefly signed to the Buffalo Bills for defensive line but they cut him. I started another thread in the grappling forum discussing his upcoming sub grappling match with Craig Jones at CJI 2 in August.

BJJ Thread 'Craig Jones vs. Gable Steveson at CJI 2'

Apr 2, 2025

I was pretty sure this was an April Fool's joke but it sounds like this is legit happening. Huge crossover superfight and CJI set some high expectations last year. No way in hell Steveson beats Jones under sub only rules but this should be an exciting match either way.

Craig Jones To Face Olympic Champion Gable Steveson In CJI 2 Superfight - Jitsmagazine.com

Craig Jones has just announced that he will be facing Olympic wrestling champion Gable Steveson in an incredible superfight at CJI 2.

jitsmagazine.com

• ChickenBrother
• Replies: 21
• Forum: Grappling Technique

• 

 

[The Dark Knight]

check this reddit out .should answer most of your questions

also

 

[Pittie Petey]

The final verdict seems to be that he had zero charisma, which is a big problem in the entertainment business obviously, and he wasnt willing to put in the time and effort to actually improve which is why they finally cut him loose
They wanted him to be one of their major stars in the future which is why they made a such a huge deal of announcing his signing and introducing him to the "WWE Universe" of fans but he showed zero passion for the wrestling business and seemed like he didnt really wanna be there so they decided to move on after a couple years of trying but getting no positive results

 

[Batjester]

Yes. Zero charisma like Pete said, and you could tell he was just going through the motions.

 

[ChickenBrother]

check this reddit out .should answer most of your questions

also

Thanks for the links and vids. From what I've heard/read, this is consistent with fan consensus. As a college wrestling fan, I'm LMFAO at this post from the reddit thread. Sadly this is truth.

He was more charismatic than the average college wrestler, yes, but the average college wrestler has next to zero charisma (post-match interviews at the NCAA championships are some of the least interesting interviews in all of sports). College wrestlers might have a cool haircut, but they rarely have any actual charisma or presence.


But I was curious if the pro wrestling fans on here agree with the consensus or if they think he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The final verdict seems to be that he had zero charisma, which is a big problem in the entertainment business obviously, and he wasnt willing to put in the time and effort to actually improve which is why they finally cut him loose
They wanted him to be one of their major stars in the future which is why they made a such a huge deal of announcing his signing and introducing him to the "WWE Universe" of fans but he showed zero passion for the wrestling business and seemed like he didnt really wanna be there so they decided to move on after a couple years of trying but getting no positive results

Watching the matches in the OP, do you really think he looks THAT bad? IMO vs. Cedric Alexander he looks like Jeff Sword or another random jobber. But I don’t think his debut vs. Baron Corbin looks that bad. Sure he should have acknowledged and high fived the crowd during his walkout, but in terms of what he's doing, I don't see any huge red flags to deserve the hate he apparently got for this match. He's no Kurt Angle on the mic but I feel like this dude was about as sellable as Ronda Rousey, who had a lukewarm WWE career. Maybe his sexual assault allegation during college killed his WWE career before it began.

 

[The Dark Knight]

Thanks for the links and vids. From what I've heard/read, this is consistent with fan consensus. As a college wrestling fan, I'm LMFAO at this post from the reddit thread. Sadly this is truth.

He was more charismatic than the average college wrestler, yes, but the average college wrestler has next to zero charisma (post-match interviews at the NCAA championships are some of the least interesting interviews in all of sports). College wrestlers might have a cool haircut, but they rarely have any actual charisma or presence.


But I was curious if the pro wrestling fans on here agree with the consensus or if they think he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.



Watching the matches in the OP, do you really think he looks THAT bad? IMO vs. Cedric Alexander he looks like Jeff Sword or another random jobber. But I don’t think his debut vs. Baron Corbin is that bad. Sure he should have acknowledged and high fived the crowd during his walkout, but I don't see any huge red flags during the match as far as what he's doing. Sure he's no Kurt Angle on the mic but I feel like this dude was about as sellable as Ronda Rousey, who had a lukewarm WWE career, though Rousey was a mainstream phenom when she came over. Maybe his sexual assault allegation during college killed his WWE career before it began.

yeah wwe is more showmanship and athletic ability 50/50 and Gable just had like 0 personality and didnt grab the fans...

 

[Thrawn33]

Can't all be Brock or Angle, especially in today's WWE.

In the older days where pro-wrestlers were expected to be legit tough guys maybe

 

[ChickenBrother]

yeah wwe is more showmanship and athletic ability 50/50 and Gable just had like 0 personality and didnt grab the fans...

Can't all be Brock or Angle, especially in today's WWE.

In the older days where pro-wrestlers were expected to be legit tough guys maybe

As a fan who followed Steveson's college and freestyle career, I wanted to be objective. But was flipping channels last night and saw an episode of Legends + Future Greats. Apparently it's like The Ultimate Fighter but aspiring pro wrestlers compete for an NXT contract. And contestants with 6 months training looked better than Steveson did in his matches.

Clickbait youtubers say Steveson sucks and was the biggest failed hypejob of all time, etc. but the WWE creative team has to share some blame. I don't understand how the fuck WWE let him spend 2 and a half years under contract, teasing him to fans and putting him in spotlights only to debut him with no gimmick, no creative look, no scripted storyline, no finishing move, no nothing. He just shows up for his debut match in a generic red singlet doing generic low amplitude moves LMFAO.

And this is a HW known for celebrating college wins with a backflip. Angle and Lesnar did the Angle Slam/F5 in their debuts. Fuck they could have done him better with 5 minutes of effort and a decent finishing move.

 

[Deleted member 592570]

You don't need to be good at wrestling to get over. If you're undeniable, even bad booking can't stop you from getting over, but even a guy like DDP who wasn't super athletic and was like 40 when he started got over. How?

Good booking.

I don't watch the current product so I can't comment on the booking this guy received but that last dark match in the OP is hilariously bad booking. He was made to look like a chump was lucky to win.

 

[Thrawn33]

As a fan who followed Steveson's college and freestyle career, I guess I wanted to be objective. But was flipping channels last night and saw an episode of Legends + Future Greats. Apparently it's like The Ultimate Fighter but aspiring pro wrestlers compete for an NXT contract. And contestants with 6 months training looked better than Steveson did in his matches.

Clickbait youtubers say Steveson sucks and was the biggest failed hypejob of all time, etc. but the WWE creative team has to share some blame. I don't understand how the fuck WWE let him spend 2 and a half years under contract, teasing him to fans and putting him in spotlights only to debut him with no gimmick, no creative look, no scripted storyline, no finishing move, no nothing. He just shows up for his debut match in a generic red singlet doing generic low amplitude moves LMFAO.

And this is a HW known for celebrating college wins with a backflip. Angle and Lesnar did the Angle Slam/F5 in their debuts. Fuck they could have done him better with 5 minutes of effort and a decent finishing move.

He got signed when Vince was still running things right?

 

[Pittie Petey]

As a fan who followed Steveson's college and freestyle career, I guess I wanted to be objective. But was flipping channels last night and saw an episode of Legends + Future Greats. Apparently it's like The Ultimate Fighter but aspiring pro wrestlers compete for an NXT contract. And contestants with 6 months training looked better than Steveson did in his matches.

Clickbait youtubers say Steveson sucks and was the biggest failed hypejob of all time, etc. but the WWE creative team has to share some blame. I don't understand how the fuck WWE let him spend 2 and a half years under contract, teasing him to fans and putting him in spotlights only to debut him with no gimmick, no creative look, no scripted storyline, no finishing move, no nothing. He just shows up for his debut match in a generic red singlet doing generic low amplitude moves LMFAO.

And this is a HW known for celebrating college wins with a backflip. Angle and Lesnar did the Angle Slam/F5 in their debuts. Fuck they could have done him better with 5 minutes of effort and a decent finishing move.

Doesnt really sound like youre being objective, sounds like youre looking for people to blame it on other than Steveson because youre a fan of his
You said yourself, people with 6 months training look better than him, who's fault is that?
Is it the trainers that gave him all the opportunity in the world to learn and improve or is it the guy that refused to put in any effort to learn and improve
The reason that everyone else looked better than him is because they put in the effort and had the desire to be there and the passion to succeed, 3 things he lacked

The WWE didnt care that he is a rapist either, they signed him knowing all about that story and still gave him a hero's welcome so you cant blame it on that either

You want the WWE to give him all this razzle dazzle but what did he do to earn it?

There is a very limited amount of spots on the WWE tv roster and there are hundreds of wrestlers in the WWE developmental program and there are thousands and thousands of wrestlers behind them desperately wanting to get into the developmental program and all these people are busting their ass every single day, working nonstop, listening, learning, improving, doing everything they can possibly do to show that they deserve one of those extremely valuable tv spots

And then you got this one guy that was gifted a spot at the head of the class without earning it, given all the possible tools in the world to become a successful and he didnt show any appreciation or interest in taking advantage of the gift he was given so they cut him loose after trying and trying for a couple years

Its not WWE's fault that he failed, Chickenbro, its only his

 

[ChickenBrother]

You don't need to be good at wrestling to get over. If you're undeniable, even bad booking can't stop you from getting over, but even a guy like DDP who wasn't super athletic and was like 40 when he started got over. How?

Good booking.

I don't watch the current product so I can't comment on the booking this guy received but that last dark match in the OP is hilariously bad booking. He was made to look like a chump was lucky to win.

That was my read as well. My sense was maybe they gave this dude every chance to get down with the program and he was just being a PITA to work with behind the scenes. They didn't want to extend him and needed a reason to cut him loose at the end of his contract, so they hung him out to dry by booking him in terrible matches that made him look even worse than he would have otherwise. Not making excuses for the guy but it does look like they could have put him over a little better though granted that was probably his fault.

He got signed when Vince was still running things right?

Yes, he mentions in the interview below that he initially talked to Vince when he signed up.

Doesnt really sound like youre being objective, sounds like youre looking for people to blame it on other than Steveson because youre a fan of his
You said yourself, people with 6 months training look better than him, who's fault is that?
Is it the trainers that gave him all the opportunity in the world to learn and improve or is it the guy that refused to put in any effort to learn and improve
The reason that everyone else looked better than him is because they put in the effort and had the desire to be there and the passion to succeed, 3 things he lacked

The WWE didnt care that he is a rapist either, they signed him knowing all about that story and still gave him a hero's welcome so you cant blame it on that either

You want the WWE to give him all this razzle dazzle but what did he do to earn it?

There is a very limited amount of spots on the WWE tv roster and there are hundreds of wrestlers in the WWE developmental program and there are thousands and thousands of wrestlers behind them desperately wanting to get into the developmental program and all these people are busting their ass every single day, working nonstop, listening, learning, improving, doing everything they can possibly do to show that they deserve one of those extremely valuable tv spots

And then you got this one guy that was gifted a spot at the head of the class without earning it, given all the possible tools in the world to become a successful and he didnt show any appreciation or interest in taking advantage of the gift he was given so they cut him loose after trying and trying for a couple years

Its not WWE's fault that he failed, Chickenbro, its only his

You are of course correct, brother Pete. Not arguing it's not his fault. I'm just curious what went down behind the scenes to lead to the hilariously bad matches he eventually did. Debuting a high profile prospect without even a finishing move seems insane and any 3rd grader could tell you that.

What doesn't smell right to me is that from everything I've heard or read about the business, creative control sits with WWE. So it's unusual for wrestlers to have input let alone control over their own storylines. Did WWE seriously pitch this dude on legit gimmicks, special moves (dude was an Olympic freestyle gold medalist - he could hit 100 versions of grand amplitude slams without learning any kayfabe), and dude was just like, "Nah bith. Ima go out in my generic ass singlet and just hit generic shit." Because that doesn't quite add up either. How did anyone think he WOULDN'T flop given what he went out there with?

Found this interview with Ariel Helwani from a few months ago. Steveson comes off very level headed and he's clear that he was cut involuntarily but seems to own it.


marked:

 

[Thrawn33]

Doesnt really sound like youre being objective, sounds like youre looking for people to blame it on other than Steveson because youre a fan of his
You said yourself, people with 6 months training look better than him, who's fault is that?
Is it the trainers that gave him all the opportunity in the world to learn and improve or is it the guy that refused to put in any effort to learn and improve
The reason that everyone else looked better than him is because they put in the effort and had the desire to be there and the passion to succeed, 3 things he lacked

The WWE didnt care that he is a rapist either, they signed him knowing all about that story and still gave him a hero's welcome so you cant blame it on that either

You want the WWE to give him all this razzle dazzle but what did he do to earn it?

There is a very limited amount of spots on the WWE tv roster and there are hundreds of wrestlers in the WWE developmental program and there are thousands and thousands of wrestlers behind them desperately wanting to get into the developmental program and all these people are busting their ass every single day, working nonstop, listening, learning, improving, doing everything they can possibly do to show that they deserve one of those extremely valuable tv spots

And then you got this one guy that was gifted a spot at the head of the class without earning it, given all the possible tools in the world to become a successful and he didnt show any appreciation or interest in taking advantage of the gift he was given so they cut him loose after trying and trying for a couple years

Its not WWE's fault that he failed, Chickenbro, its only his

Great post Brother Pete.

As much as I love to see legit athletes in wrestling/judo/bjj/mma make that WWE $, I also need them to entertain me in PW when I watch PW.

Ther credentials got them in the door, the rest is on them. As much as loved Bad News and Severn for what they did prior...in PW "they didn't work for me, brother"

 

[chinarice]

To say this guy was hot garbage would be insulting to garbage.

He was awful

 

[Sycho Sid]

His brother (Damon Kemp) was a better wrestler than Gable, and he was not exactly setting NXT on fire.

 

[TheBrownRanger]

Elephant in the room: SA allegations took a lot of wind out of his sails. He was apparently acquitted due to some technicality in Minnesota law. Pro wrestling has a very vocal liberal fanbase. Even guys like Hogan and Flair aren't getting the positive reactions they once did because of things they did. A charisma vacuum like Steveson stood no chance, especially when he didn't ever pay dues in the business.

One plus one equals two. Anyways, don't fuck drunk people.

 

[Sycho Sid]

Elephant in the room: SA allegations took a lot of wind out of his sails. He was apparently acquitted due to some technicality in Minnesota law. Pro wrestling has a very vocal liberal fanbase. Even guys like Hogan and Flair aren't getting the positive reactions they once did because of things they did. A charisma vacuum like Steveson stood no chance, especially when he didn't ever pay dues in the business.

One plus one equals two. Anyways, don't fuck drunk people.

None of that has anything to do with him sucking in the ring, and making little to no progress for years. Also, the SA stuff happened before he was signed, so obviously WWE did not think it was a problem, and most fans wouldn't even know about it.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

You don't need to be good at wrestling to get over. If you're undeniable, even bad booking can't stop you from getting over, but even a guy like DDP who wasn't super athletic and was like 40 when he started got over. How?

Good booking.

I don't watch the current product so I can't comment on the booking this guy received but that last dark match in the OP is hilariously bad booking. He was made to look like a chump was lucky to win.

DDP was very charismatic which it seems is something Gable is missing. It's difficult to get over if you're bad at wrestling and uncharismatic.

Ultimate Warrior was shit work wise but very charismatic so he got super over, Bret Hart was incredible in the ring but not super charismatic but he's still over

I feel like you need one or the other.

 

[Thrawn33]

Bret Hart was incredible in the ring but not super charismatic but he's still over

Not to derail but Hart was very charismatic. Kids who didn't know shit about in ring work loved the Hitman and women thought he was attractive.

Was is top tier on the mic? Nope, but there is more to charisma than just speaking.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Not to derail but Hart was very charismatic. Kids who didn't know shit about in ring work loved the Hitman and women thought he was attractive.

Was is top tier on the mic? Nope, but there is more to charisma than just speaking.

Yeah that's fair. Had a really good look too.

Maybe Chris Benoit is a better example.