Gable Steveson, the amateur wrestler who won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics earlier this year, has been drafted to WWE's main roster and will soon report for duty on Raw -- despite having never worked a professional wrestling match.
The shocking selection was announced by Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville during the second portion of the 2021 WWE Draft on this week's edition of Monday Night Raw on USA Network. The draft selections were made on behalf of the Raw and SmackDown management teams in association with representatives from USA Network (the home of Raw) and Fox (the home of SmackDown).
As we previously reported, Steveson officially signed with WWE in September after months of speculation surrounding his future. Many fans assumed that Steveson would start training at the WWE Performance Center and kick of his WWE career on the company's developmental brand NXT, but it now appears that Steveson will pull a Ronda Rousey and get fast-tracked to the main roster.
Steveson won an Olympic gold medal in the Men's Freestyle 125 kilograms competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Friday, August 6. As we previously reported, Steveson has caught the attention of both Brock Lesnar and Triple H. Steveson was photographed backstage with Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman at this year's WrestleMania. As you might recall, Steveson also appeared as a special guest at SummerSlam last month alongside his fellow Olympic wrestling champion Tamyra Mensah-Stock.
“I was thinking WWE, [WWE chairman and CEO] Vince McMahon is drooling right now,” Steveson's fellow Olympic hero-turned-WWE-Superstar Kurt Angle told app.com shortly after Steveson won the gold in Tokyo. “I think that this kid, I think he’s going to continue to wrestle amateur for another four years, probably win another gold medal,” Angle predicted. “Then I think eventually end up in the pro wrestling business or UFC or Bellator MMA. So, the kid has an incredible future.”