Originally published at Gable Steveson to focus on WWE after NCAA Wrestling Championships in March
Steveson to focus full-time on WWE after the NCAA Wrestling Championships conclude in March.
It was formally announced this past September that Gable Steveson signed a multi-year agreement with WWE that is allowing him to continue wrestling for the Minnesota Gophers. As a part of the 2021 WWE Draft, Steveson was selected by the Raw brand.
February 11th is Gable’s senior night and it’ll be the last time he wrestles a home match for the Gophers. He spoke with KSTP Sports about it and said there’s a possibility of him becoming emotional as he’s wrapping up his collegiate career before heading into his WWE run.
I don’t know. I really don’t get emotional so tomorrow , it might hit. You know, just because I’m getting my last matches, like really wrestling before I go into the WWE so, it might hit different. You never know so I mean when that time comes, I walk out for the senior night and I get my hand raised for the last time, it might hit, you never know. So when that time comes, I’ll let it come but if it doesn’t, then it’s not coming.
The NCAA Wrestling Championships are taking place from March 17th-19th in Detroit, Michigan. Gable confirmed that after that, he’ll be focusing full-time on WWE. He said he’ll probably be at WrestleMania 38.
That’s it. Yes, that’s it .
It’s not slowing down. Right when March ends, I’m picking it up and I think I’m gonna — I’ll probably head to WrestleMania and do some — I don’t know what from there but you’ll see and then it just picks up again. It’s like it’s no break and so, I mean it’ll be a good body break for me to sit after the NCAA tournament because I’ve been practicing since what? October and probably since the Olympics. I took off and then came right back to it so, it’ll be good for me to sit and just getting in something new and you know, I’m just trying to push through these few weeks — I’m not trying to push through. I’m trying to really get after it and handle them mentally and physically in the best way possible and just move on to the next step right away.
He went on to share that he attends Monday Night Raws and sits backstage to take in the environment and learn how to conduct himself from his soon-to-be colleagues.
Gable said he’ll often study Brock Lesnar and Big E to see how they operate backstage. Steveson was present at WWE Day 1 and had a 30-minute conversation with Lesnar and asked him a series of questions about pro wrestling.
The balance is pretty good for a few minutes and I’m literally just trying to dissect so like, like I said, when that time comes, it’s a hit, I know what I’m doing right away.
Gable’s brother, Damon Kemp (Bobby Steveson) is currently a part of the NXT brand. Steveson has the option to head to the Performance Center in Orlando to train. He also has a training site being built for him in Minnesota and when it is finished, he wants to turn it into an academy so children can learn amateur wrestling, pro wrestling and MMA.
So I’m still working on things with that today.
Back in December, Steveson appeared on-camera at a Raw in Minneapolis. He was embraced by both MVP and current WWE Champion Bobby Lashley.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit KSTP Sports with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.