After failing as a wrestler in the WWE, Olympic wrestling champion Gable Steveson made a daring plan to make it to the NFL without football experience. Now it has come to nothing
He won Olympic gold in wrestling in 2021, turned out to be an expensive flop after a move to the wrestling league WWE – now his daring plan to make it to the NFL has also come to nothing.
The Buffalo Bills have released Gable Steveson from the contract he signed in May: He did not survive the mandatory roster cut, in which the Bills reduced their roster to 53 men.
Gable Steveson misses the cut for the Buffalo Bills
Steveson had no football experience, but the Bills were hoping the 24-year-old’s outstanding athleticism would provide a boost at the defensive tackle position. The two-time college champion played in three preseason games and recorded three tackles – obviously not enough for the Bills to extend the experiment into the regular season.
After winning the Olympics in Tokyo, the self-confident Steveson had actually wanted to make it as a wrestler in the WWE and dreamed of a mega-career like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Conor McGregor. Even before signing with WWE, he had bragged that he was in contact with The Rock and McGregor via Instagram and had written to them “that I want to be where they are and that I’ll see them up there soon”.
However, Steveson was a stranger as a show wrestler and was not accepted by the fans, in the spring WWE buried the originally big plans with the self-confident young star and canceled him.
With his NFL plans, Steveson now had the same fate as Brock Lesnar, who also came from wrestling and once played for the Minnesota Vikings after a falling out, but also failed to make the season squad.
