Booker T Shares Interesting Theory About Gable Steveson’s WWE Release
Gable Steveson is no longer a part of WWE and Booker T has given his thoughts about why the company would cut an Olympic Gold Medalist.
Several NXT wrestlers were cut in early May as part of some WWE spring cleaning. Some of the wrestlers cut were people who had yet to debut on television while others had been part of the system for a few years and simply weren’t progressing well enough.
There was a shocking name as part of the releases when it was reported that Olympic Gold Medal wrestler Gable Steveson was let go at the age of 23 after spending about three years in the company.
It was later revealed that Steveson was likely cut due to the belief that he wasn’t developing as a pro wrestler. Despite being let go by WWE, it is believed that Steveson has plenty of options in the future whether it’s with the MMA world leading to a UFC career or going to the NFL or going back to amateur wrestling competitions.
Booker T is a two-time WWE Hall of Famer who has been an announcer on the NXT brand for about two years. In addition to being an announcer, Booker is a mentor to a lot of the young talent in NXT. Booker was also on the call for Steveson’s lone televised WWE match at NXT Great American Bash 2023 against Baron Corbin.
While speaking about Gable Steveson’s WWE departure on his Hall of Fame radio show, Booker T expressed his belief that while Steveson was in WWE, he was still interested in doing other things. Booker spoke about that after being asked if Gable could be considered 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.”
Booker T Feels Like Gable Steveson Still Had Amateur Wrestling Bug
The discussion continued with Booker being asked about whether or not Gable Steveson bought into the pro wrestling world.
“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.”