WWE wanted to get Gable Steveson signed for a long time. After the Olympic Gold Medal win in Tokyo, Vince McMahon literally pulled out all the stops to sign him, and now the deal is official. As reported earlier, he has put his signature to the paper to become a WWE Superstar. While he won’t join WWE right away, it will eventually happen. For now, he still has some unfinished business at the University of Minnesota.
Per WWE’s announcement, Gable Steveson has signed a unique contract with the company, their first-ever NCAA NIL (name, image, likeness) deal. It was noted that while he remains signed to the exclusive agreement with the WWE, he will be defending his NCAA title for the University of Minnesota.
In an update, ESPN’s Mike Coppinger reported that Gable Steveson’s deal is a multi-year contract with the WWE, but it’s not clear on the exact length of the signing. The deal will allow Gable to attend the University of Minnesota for his senior year, and defend the Division I national championship at heavyweight.
Gable Steveson to start training with the WWE
WWE will make sure that Gable Steveson gets a remote training facility near the University of Minnesota campus, where he will learn the finer points of in-ring work with WWE coaches. There is no word on which coaches will be appointed to train him in the near future.
But sooner some veteran names are likely to join the 21-year-old athlete. At the same time, he can also access the WWE Performance Center training facility available in Orlando, Florida where his brother Bobby Steveson is already training with the latest class of PC trainees.
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Gable Steveson’s multi-year talent contract with WWE will officially begin once he graduates from college in May. He will be a full-time performer with WWE from then onwards but he is also expected to appear on WWE TV during the school year. This indicates we might see him on WWE NXT TV sooner than later, but that has not been confirmed.
As seen earlier, Gable Steveson appeared at ringside for NXT “Takeover: Stand and Deliver” during WrestleMania 37 weekend back in April and was then honored at SummerSlam 2021 with fellow Olympic gold medalist wrestler Tamyra Mensah-Stock for his Olympics accomplishment. It’s yet to be seen when he will return to WWE TV as a contracted talent.