What Olympic gold-medalist Gable Stevenson needs to do to succeed in WWE? Kurt Angle gives his view

Given the excitement surrounding Steveson, Kurt Angle discussed the pressure that will be placed on him as he begins his career.

Gable Stevenson in a file photo. (Image: Twitter)
By Nilavro Ghosh | Jan 6, 2022 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle spoke about Olympic Gold Medalist Gable Steveson and his potential with the organisation during a special Q&A session of The Kurt Angle Podcast. During the WWE Draft, Steveson was placed on RAW, but he has yet to make a significant impact with the promotion. Steveson and his brother Damon Kemp were both in attendance at the WWE Day One pay-per-view this past weekend.

Given the excitement surrounding Steveson, Kurt Angle discussed the pressure that will be placed on him as he begins his career. He also explained why he thinks Gable would be a huge success at the company since he can figure out the character side of things.

“Gable Steveson is a phenomenal athlete, especially for his size,” Angle said. “The kid is a super athlete, I think he’s going to adapt well to pro wrestling. The only issue is I don’t know his personality. I don’t know how open he is, if he’s able to come up with a great character that people will relate to or that people will absolutely hate.”

“You can be a great wrestler but if you don’t have the character and the promo skills, you’re going to be stuck in the mud. Someone like Gable Steveson, who is an Olympic Gold Medalist, they’re going to bring him in larger than life. A lot of pressure is going to be put on him just like it was for me. I think Gable is going to do a good job, I think he’s going to adapt very well and I think he’s going to have a lot of success in WWE.”

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Given their amateur wrestling backgrounds and Olympic Gold Medal accomplishments, there are obvious parallels between Steveson and Angle. Despite the connection, Gable turned to Twitter to insist he’s “not the next Kurt Angle,” while Angle views Steveson as the next Brock Lesnar if he can pick it up as quickly as the former UFC Champion.

On Nigel McGuiness

Angle discussed his time in TNA, as well as one of his favourite opponents, Nigel McGuiness. Angle explained why Nigel might have been a WWE Champion if his career hadn’t been sidetracked by injury, and why he would have wanted to confront him at WrestleMania.

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“Nigel was so talented, it was endless what success he would have,” Angle said. “This kid just had some really bad luck. He had something wrong with him, a certain disease and that’s what held him back. I know before he went to TNA, WWE was going to sign him and he ended up blowing out his shoulder so they held off on signing him and he ended up going from ROH to TNA. He did phenomenally, I loved working with him. The problem was he was so damn good and aggressive that he didn’t know how to give back. He would take my arm and crank it and put it behind my back but he’d put me in a hold where I couldn’t reverse him. I taught him a few things on how to open up for counters so people can get their offense in but Nigel was incredible.”