Gable Steveson made an appearance on Tuesday’s NXT.
Earlier in the show, Eddy Thorpe accepted a challenge from Damon Kemp for a Raw Underground match for the July 4 edition of NXT in two weeks. Later, Thorpe was viewing Raw Underground footage, wondering how he would train for the upcoming match. Steveson walked in and offered to train Thorpe, saying if anyone knew more about Kemp, it was him. In real life, Steveson and Kemp are brothers, though that was not specifically mentioned in the segment. Thorpe ended up agreeing to train with Steveson.
Steveson has only made sporadic appearances since signing with the WWE in 2021, shortly after winning a gold medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Recently, it was reported that Steveson expressed interest in returning to the University of Minnesota next year, as well as competing in the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Thorpe and Kemp have faced off twice. In their second match on June 6, Thorpe hit a German suplex. Although the referee counted to three, they did not see Kemp’s foot on the rope. Kemp has since complained about the match, with Thorpe agreeing to another match with a stipulation of Kemp’s choosing.
Gable Steveson plans to use his final year of NCAA eligibility.
The two-time national heavyweight champion confirmed with FloWrestling that he is hoping to resume his collegiate wrestling career next year.
Flowrestling wrote:
Steveson still has to sort out scheduling details with the WWE before his return is official, but if all goes according to plan, he will be back on the NCAA mat next season.
Last week, Steveson told Sports Illustrated that his WWE debut is coming sooner than people expect.
Steveson said:
I have changed my diet, my body appearance. I wanted to be the best thing ever so when I did go on TV, it was going to be a sight that nobody has seen before. My time is coming and it’s coming sooner than a lot of people think.
Steveson has also said he hopes to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He told KSTB Sports that he has yet to receive approval from WWE to enter the competition. However, Steveson said they were “making great strides” in making that happen.
Steveson returned to amateur wrestling at the 2023 US Open Wrestling Championships in April. He was named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler after going 4-0 and outscoring his opponents 44-1. He then defeated Mason Parris at Final X earlier this month. Steveson plans to represent Team USA at the World Championships in Serbia this September as well.
Steveson last appeared on WWE programming on December 9, 2022, as part of Kurt Angle’s birthday celebration on SmackDown.
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Friday Update
Garrett Gonzales and I did a show this afternoon talking the Iron Sheik, Forbidden Door, Young Rock and other topics. Bryan and I will be back for our weekend show tomorrow night.
The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is up on the site today We’ve gotten a lot of talk about the story on the life of the Iron Sheik as well as on the longest world title reigns in pro wrestling history.
Smackdown tonight is in Des Moines, IA. They announced that HHH will present a new women’s title belt to Asuka, since that worked so well in the ratings last week. The show will be based around Jey Uso deciding which side he’s on, the Jimmy Uso side or the Roman Reigns side. Plus Michin vs. Bayley, Iyo Sky vs. Shotzi, Mustafa Ali vs. Santos Escobar and Butch vs. Baron Corbin in MITB qualifying matches. They had 6,300 tickets out for the show as of this morning. That’s lower than most WWE TV shoots of late. PW Insider reported that Charlotte Flair was at the show.
We’re looking for your thoughts on today’s All Together Again joint show of New Japan, All Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH at Sumo Hall, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
We’re looking for reports from Smackdown in Des Moines, IA with anything like dark match results and live notes on things not on the live show to [email protected]
Impact Against All Odds tonight on Impact + from Columbus, OH:
Steve Maclin vs. Alex Shelley for Impact title
Trey Miguel vs. Chris Sabin for X title
Chris Bey & Ace Austin vs. Jason Hotch & John Skyler for tag titles
Deonna Purrazzo & Trinity vs. Gisele Shaw & Savannah Evans
Killer Kelly vs. Masha Slamovich in a dog collar match
8-4-1 match for an Impact title shot with Nick Aldis, Bully Ray, Mike Bailey, Jonathan Gresham, Heath, Moose, Rich Swann and PCO
Joe Hendry vs. Dirty Dango for Digital Media title
Eddie Edwards vs. Frankie Kazarian
Sami Callihan & Jake Crist & Madman Fulton vs. Angels & Kon & Deaner
NEW had a show on 6/17 at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson NJ. If you note that’s the day of the AEW Collision debut in Chicago. The Acclaimed, Billy Gunn, Penta and Willow Nightingale were all told that they are either being pulled from the show to work Chicago or that they are likely or possibly to work Chicago. The show itself was moved to 8/13 for that reason with Acclaimed, Billy Gunn, Nightingale, Mick Foley and Nzo.
Final X takes place tomorrow night at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. This will be the final playoff for the U.S. team at the world championships in Belgrade Serbia. WWE’s Gable Steveson faces Mason Parris, another WWE signee, for the 275 pound freestyle spot. The most talked about match has former Olympic medalists Kyle Snyder vs. J’Den Cox going for the 213 pound freestyle spot.
UFC 289 is tomorrow night from Vancouver, BC. Prelims on ESPN from 7-10 p.m. Eastern:
Diana Belbita (114.5) vs. Maria Oliveira (115.5)
David Dvorak (125.5) vs. Stephen Erceg (125.5)
Kyle Nelson (145) vs. Blake Bilder (145.5)
Aiemann Zahabi (135.75) vs. Aoriqileng (135)
Miranda Maverick (125.5) vs Jasmine Jasudavicius (125.25)
Nassourdine Imavov (185.5) vs. Chris Curtis (185.25)
PPV at 10 p.m. Eastern:
Eryk Anders (184.75) vs. marc-Andre Barriault (185)
Dan Ige (145.5) vs Nae Landwehr (145.25)
Mike Malott (169.5) vs. Adam Fugitt (170.75)
Charles Oliveira (154) vs. Beneil Dariush (156)
Amanda Nunes (135) vs. Irene Aldana (135) for the bantamweight title
BetOnline has released odds for the G-1 Climax tournament. The favorites are:
Zack Sabre Jr. +200
David Finlay +250
Kazuchika Okada +300
Sanada +300
Will Ospreay +300
Tetsuya Naito +400
Hiroshi Tanahashi +500
Jeff Cobb +500
Kaito Kiyomiya +500
The longest shot at +5000 is Toru Yano
Yuka Sakazaki is out of action with a neck injury so the TJPW Princess tag team titles are vacant and the Sakazaki vs. Nyla Rose match upcoming is off Rose is still coming but will have a new match.
Viviane Araujo vs. Casey O’Neill has been added to UFC 293 on 9/9 in Sydney, Australia.
Karine Silva, coming off her big submission win on Saturday, is scheduled according to MMA Fighting to be very close to confirming a match with Maryna Moroz on 8/19 in Boston.
Other Notes
Defy has inked a deal with WREMIX to stream its last show, headlined by KENTA vs. Nick Wayne, which debuts on the platform on 6/22 at wremix.tv The show will air free.
The NWA 75th anniversary weekend will be 8/26 to 8/29 in St. Louis. They will run PPV shows on 8/26 and 8/27 and do TV tapings on 8/28 and 8/29.
Scotty 2 Hotty faces ESW champion Will Calrissan for the title on 6/23 in Niagara Falls, NY at the Frontier Fire Hall.
Jon Moxley will be doing a seminar for Sami Callihan’s Wrestling Revolver promotion on 6/16 in Dayton.
EPW on 6/16 in Perth, Western Australia at Willeston Stadium with Michael Morleone vs. Taylor King for the EPW title and Mikey Nicholls vs. Pete Curulli, a breakfast radio host in Perth. Nicholls and Curulli have been doing angles on his radio show to build the match.
Vampiro is taking autograph, appearance and limited wrestling bookings through Bill Behrens at [email protected]. Behrens can also book Thom Latimer, Kamille, Flip Gordon, Thrillbilly Silas, Earl Hebner, Jay Lethal, Matt Sydal, Griff Garrison, Joe Hendry, Markus Cross, Slim J, Ken Anderson, Moose, Hernandez, Missy Hyatt, TJP, Sean Waltman, Eric Bischoff, Jim Ross, DDP, EC 3, Devon Dudley and Tommy Dreamer.
After Thursday night’s show, the PFL final four for the year at featherweight are Bubba Jenkins, Gabriel Braga, Movid Khaybulaev and Jesus Pinedo (who scored a huge knockout upset of Brendan Loughnane). At light heavyweight the final four are Joshua Silveira (the son of Marcus Conan Silveira), Marthin Hamlet, Impa Kasaganay and Ty Flores.
Greektown Wrestling from London, ONT last night: Mick McGuire b Ethan Dux, Nacci Mafia b Mick McGuire & Ethan Dux, Bryce Hansen b Trent Gibson Seleyzia Sparks b Nova, Space Monkey b Wes Barkley, Tyler Tirva b Cody Ireland, Cody Deaner b Derek Dillinger, Zack Nystrom b Mo Jabari Sonny Kiss b Bill Collier, Channing Decker & Masato Tanaka b Bollywood Boyz. They are running tonight in Hamilton ONT, Saturday in Toronto and Sunday in Waterloo, ONT, all at 5:30 p.m. Decker vs Tanaka in a ladder match is tonight. The shows are on FITE +. (thanks to Shannon Walsh)
Ehren Schaffter has a new book called “Ascending The Queendom”. The book will chronicle the lives of talent such as Madi Wrenkowski, Rebecca Scott, Savanna Stone, Amaris Blair, Airica Demia, Mystii Marks, Mylo , Amy Crimson, and Judi Rae. Ascending The Queendom will also explore the struggles for female talent navigating within the sport of wrestling such as harassment and sexism. You can preorder the book.
AAW Crush & Destroy tonight on High Spots features Robert Anthony vs. Mance Warner in a Pure rules match, Alec Price vs. Gnaris Garvin, Sierra & Heather Reckless vs Shazza McKenzie & B3CCA Braden Lee vs. Joe Alonzo Silas Young vs. Silas Mason, Russ Jones & Schaff defend the tag titles against Xavier Walker & Ren Jones plus Jake Something and Fred Yehi.
Gable Steveson is hoping to compete at the 2024 Olympics but he’ll need WWE’s permission to do so.
Steveson made his return to amateur wrestling at the 2023 US Open Wrestling Championships last month. He went 4-0 and outscored his opponents 44-1 en route to being named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler.
He recently told KSTB Sports that WWE has approved him to compete in amateur wrestling tournaments but hasn’t yet approved him to enter the 2024 Olympics.
Steveson said:
“[WWE] approved the fact that I can chase a couple tournaments,” Steveson said. “I think time will tell the Olympics story. Who knows because it’s a year away but I think we’re in good strides to make that progression.”
Steveson has been training at the Performance Center since undergoing a heart procedure to treat Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome in September.
Steveson said of his training:
“I’m getting the hang of doing everything the correct way – landing right, match psychology, everything in between. I’m flourishing and hopefully they see it, too.”
Steveson last appeared on WWE programming on the December 9 SmackDown from Pittsburgh. Angle and Steveson sprayed The Alpha Academy with milk as part of Angle’s birthday celebration on the show. Steveson continued to say that he is excited to show “the real Gable” as a professional wrestler.
“I’m excited because people haven’t really seen the real Gable because amateur wrestling kind of shelves a portion because we’re used to guys being disciplined.”
*Lots of new news regarding AEW plans, new television show, how this impacts AEW, who will be the stars of the different shows and more.
*WWE creates a new world championship belt, the story behind it, the draft and changes in draft plans, and what NXT talent is ready now and can be stars later
*Full coverage of Stardom’s All-Star Grand Queendom, one of the biggest women’s events of the past 25 years. We look at business, Mercedes Mone, creation of a new championship, PPV numbers, the count out finish with match-by-match coverage with star ratings.
*The lawsuit filed by former WWE writer Britney Abrahams against the company, including stereotyping wrestlers, comments by writers, and much more
*WWE and AEW major shows between now an the end of August, matches, tickets out, interest levels and top feuds
*The next TripleMania show with the El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Kenny Omega rematch
*UFC full coverage from Saturday, results, details, business and future prospects
*The most detailed look at al the television ratings this past week, including what competition means, how things compare to a year ago, and what major change this week in television and how that impacts prime time wrestling
*Dragon Gate’s next major show
*All Japan Champion Carnival update
*Will Ospreay future
*New Japan Best of the Super Junior notes
*Notes on the New Japan shows this week
*Aaron Henare talks his greatest match with Shingo Takagi
*One of the greatest woman wrestlers of all-time, at 61 wins a tag team title
*The story of Don Luce, one of the most respected pro wrestling historians
*One of the all-time greats will have a statue put up in his home town
*Notes on the new season of Dark Side of the ring
*Devon Nicholson talks about the claims of Abdullah the Butcher
*New book deal about a gangland murder of a major 80s star
*Promotions piggybacking around AEW at Wembley Stadium
*MLW TV future notes
*Owen Hart Cup
*Kota Ibushi update
*Notes from All Access
*ticket advances for WWE & AEW shows
*Streaming and international TV numbers
*Two legendary wrestlers who later did MMA have documentaries out on them and finalists for Emmy Awards
*Bellator’s return to Hawaii
*Business notes on Tank Davis vs Ryan Garcia and crossover with the pro wrestling audience
*All of what went down with Nate Diaz in New Orleans
*Peacock business number and what that means for WWE
*Changes in Raw
*Law firm investigating WWE merger
*Lots of WWE injuries and talent questioning some of the training
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Sunday Update
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking the latest news from the weekend such as the draft, European tour, AEW stuff and the week upcoming with Wrestling Obsever Radio. You can send questions to [email protected]
We’ll have more in the issue, but Gable Steveson went back to amateur wrestling at the U.S. Open over the weekend and not only destroyed everyone en route to winning the tournament, but was named Most Outstanding Wrestler regardless of the weight class.
Steveson faced the best heavyweights in the country, including NCAA champion Mason Parris, and won all four bouts with four tech falls (meaning ahead by ten points when it was stopped) and outscoring opponents 44-1. The win would put Steveson theoretically on the 6/10 event at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, where he would face whoever is deemed as the No. 2 heavyweight, likely Nick Gwiazdowski, who Steveson beat in the finals. They would do a best of three and the winner would represent the U.S. at the world championships.
With the ease that he beat Parris, Steveson probably has a lot of regrets about not returning to attempt to win a third NCAA title earlier this year. As noted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Steveson had an idea to do that as a surprise, but for reasons not detailed, it fell through.
There was a pro wrestling connection at yesterday’s San Francisco Giants vs. San Diego Padres baseball game in Mexico City — the first major league regular season game ever held there. Atlantis threw out the first pitch and WWE’s Rey Mysterio was among several wrestlers, mostly from CMLL, who were special guests.
WWE results from yesterday in Paris, France, which was the final night of the European tour (Thanks to Sebastian Mantilla Vargas)
Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair defeated Iyo Sky via DQ in a title match when Dakota Kai and Bayley interfered and Asuka made the save.
Asuka & Belair defeated Damage Ctrl when Belair pinned Bayley after the KOD
Damian Priest defeated Dolph Ziggler after interference from Dominik Mysterio. Dominik got ridiculous heat trying to cut a promo.
Dominik Mysterio defeated Dexter Lumis with help from Priest.
Baron Corbin defeated Rick Boogs for his first win of the year. The crowd cheered Corbin a ton and booed Boogs. This may have been an impromptu change since Boogs beat Corbin on every other show.
Seth Rollins defeated The Miz. This segment went almost 40 minutes with fans singing for about 35 minutes. Miz got a major babyface reaction but cut a promo in French turning himself heel.
Alpha Academy defeated Maximum Male Models. The Models first claimed they were from Paris, the fashion capital of the world, but then ran down the city because of all the garbage in the streets.
US Champion Austin Theory defeated Bobby Lashley and Bronson Reed to retain. Lashley speared Reed but Theory pinned Reed.
Cody Rhodes defeated Finn Balor. Rhodes was the most over of anyone. He cut a promo saying after all the sellouts in Paris that WWE should run a PLE in Paris.
We’re looking for reports from tonight’s WWE show in Bossier City, LA, with results, finishes and highlights to [email protected].
In Google trends for the week, the Giants-Padres game in Mexico City was No. 3 for today earlier in the day, and Mike Perry, who beat Luke Rockhold in the main event of the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship event, was No. 9.
The Bare Knuckle show from last night, which got the most interest by far of anything in combat sports, was No. 6 yesterday with 100,000 searches. On Friday, the new Guardians of the Galaxy move was No. 9 (Dave Bautista in the movie) and No. 18 was the WWE Draft with 20,000 searches.
Perry (3-0) beat Rockhold via second round stoppage at the Bare Knuckle event in Denver. Rockhold reportedly won the first round and hurt Perry early, but Perry hurt him back late in the round. His mouth looked like hell when it was stopped in the second round with some teeth knocked out. It’s really sad that these MMA fighters can’t make more money in their sport and go into this, but they are obviously getting paid well. Eddie Alvarez beat Chad Mendes via decision over five rounds in the other big fight on the show.
However, the biggest thing on the show was after Perry beat Rockhold, he called out Conor McGregor, who was at ringside. They had a staredown in the ring and McGregor acted like he’d be willing to face Perry. Perry also issued a challenge to Donald Cerrone.
Tonight on A&E in the wrestling block at 7 PM will be a replay of the Steve Austin biography episode. At 9 PM, it will be WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures featuring Steve Austin. Then at 10 PM, it will be the debut of Stone Cold Takes on America. This is the second week in a row A&E has built the Sunday night block around Austin after doing solid ratings last week.
I have got a lot of responses to three of the recent matches in NJPW. I will try and watch them, but those getting a number of rave reviews were Hiromu Takahashi’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight title defense against Yoshinobu Kanemaru on Thursday, yesterday’s tag title match with Aussie Open vs. Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste, and the KOPW title match where Taichi won the title from Shingo Takagi in a match that went more than 43:00.
Suzu Suzuki, who announced a few days ago that she was leaving the Prominence promotion, is not officially announced as being with Stardom, but unless something unforeseen happens, she will end up as a regular there.
Tommy Dreamer was back producing at Saturday’s Impact tapings at Chicago’s Cicero Stadium. Also producing was Ricky Morton.
I don’t know how an anonymous person on Twitter is claiming that the new Britt Baker AEW T-shirt with her black eye promotes domestic violence. Baker is shutting it down and it was a story worthy of Fox News, so here were are. Literally, an unnamed person on Twitter said something ridiculous. Check out like every single person in wrestling’s Twitter feeds. (Thanks to Curtis Hierro)
Championship Wrestling from Florida debuts with Kevin Sullivan as booker with tapings on 5/27 and 5/28 in Pompano Beach, FL.
In his hometown of Pittsburgh, Kurt Angle celebrated his 54th birthday on SmackDown last night.
Angle was joined by fellow Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson for the celebration. It was noted that Steveson is currently training at the WWE Performance Center.
After being denied entry into Angle’s birthday party, Chad Gable & Otis interrupted Angle at the end of the night and wanted to ruin his celebration by eating all of his birthday cake. Angle told Alpha Academy they’d need some milk to go along with it — which led to Steveson driving out in a milk truck. The episode ended with Angle and Steveson giving Alpha Academy a milk bath and celebrating in the ring.
WWE uploaded a video clip with the party continuing after SmackDown went off the air. The babyface roster joined Angle in the ring, with Rey Mysterio leading the crowd in singing happy birthday to Angle. Paul “Triple H” Levesque also made an appearance as he joined in with the celebration.
Gable Steveson appeared on Friday’s SmackDown, joining Kurt Angle in a show-closing segment.
Steveson appeared with Angle, who was celebrating his birthday on Friday’s show, and joined him in a party backstage with several other wrestlers. When Angle arrived to the ring to celebrate his birthday in front of his Pittsburg hometown crowd, Alpha Academy arrived and told Angle to get lost, as they were unhappy about not being invited to the party backstage.
As Otis was eating Angle’s birthday cake, Angle told Otis he’d need a lot of milk. That brought out Steveson, who was riding a milk truck. The show ended with Angle and Stevenson spraying Alpha Academy with milk via a spray hose.
Steveson signed with the WWE last year after winning a gold medal in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. He was drafted to the Raw brand late last year, but has not been seen on television since.
It was reported in October that Steveson was training at the WWE Performance Center full-time after being treated for Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a rare heart condition.
Gable Steveson is now training full-time at the WWE Performance Center after undergoing a heart procedure last month, according to a new report.
ESPN reports that Steveson underwent an ablation last month to treat Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, and is now training full-time in Orlando under the guidance of Fit Finlay.
WPW syndrome is a congenital heart condition that causes rapid heartbeat, according to the Mayo Clinic. An ablation “uses small burns or freezes to cause some scarring on the inside of the heart to help break up the electrical signals that cause irregular heartbeats,” according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Steveson tells ESPN that the condition was discovered in 2021 prior to his competing in the Olympics in Tokyo, but that he did not undergo the ablation until WWE’s medical team guided him through a process that “spanned many months.”
The report states that WWE recommended top cardiologists for Steveson, and quotes chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque: “We’re glad to see that Gable is healthy and training full time at our Performance Center in Orlando.”
WWE announced Steveson’s signing to a multi-year contract in September 2021. He was drafted to the Raw brand in the 2021 WWE Draft, but has yet to have his in-ring debut.
Steveson appeared on both nights of WrestleMania 38 earlier this year.
Steveson’s brother Bobby is also signed to WWE, and performs as Damon Kemp on the NXT brand.
In the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer gave an update on Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson’s status with WWE.
“Everything is cold on Gable Steveson,” Meltzer wrote. “His brother [NXT wrestler Damon Kemp] is doing great and they wanted to debut [Steveson] some time ago, but it hasn’t happened because reviews on his training progress haven’t been good. They were going to fast track him after he finished his last season in March, but he hasn’t even been around or talked about.”
It was announced in September 2021 that Steveson had signed a multi-year deal with WWE and would start with the company full-time after his senior wrestling season at the University of Minnesota. Last October, Steveson was drafted to the Raw roster in the WWE Draft.
It was reported this May that Steveson was exploring a return to the University of Minnesota for his last year of college wrestling eligibility. The potential extra year of eligibility is possible due to a rule put in place by the NCAA during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Steveson posted photos on Instagram last month of him training at former WWE wrestler Mr. Kennedy’s wrestling school in Minnesota. Steveson captioned the Instagram post with: “Been getting active.. That time will be here very soon! #raw”
Meltzer also reported in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE has renewed interest in Olympic gold medalist Tamyra Mensah-Stock. Like Steveson, Mensah-Stock won a gold medal in wrestling during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
“Tamyra Mensah-Stock, who won a gold medal in the 2021 Olympics at 149 pounds, may get a look again,” Meltzer wrote. “She made it clear after winning the gold that she was interested in going to WWE and she was brought in, but the previous regime wasn’t interested because she didn’t have the look they wanted. The new regime has interest in her with the idea she was the first black woman from the U.S ever to win a gold medal.”
Gable Steveson is exploring a return to the University of Minnesota wrestling team for the 2022-2023 season.
Pioneer Press reports that the WWE signee is considering competing for one more year in the college ranks before he begins his full-time WWE career.
In an interview with Minnesota coach Brandon Eggum, the publication states that talks for Steveson to return to the Golden Gophers have not gone past a preliminary stage, and that WWE chairman Vince McMahon would need to approve it, but that Steveson is interested in utilizing his final year of college eligibility.
Steveson signed an NIL (name, image, and likeness) deal with WWE last year, with the contract set to become a full-time talent contract following Steveson’s college graduation. Steveson graduated from Minnesota earlier this month, but retains one year of eligibility as a college athlete.
Steveson had seemingly retired from amateur wrestling after his March 19 NCAA heavyweight title win, leaving his shoes on the mat.
Steveson was drafted to the Raw brand in the 2021 WWE Draft, and was introduced to the crowd at WrestleMania this year by Stephanie McMahon on night one of the event. On night two of WrestleMania, Steveson appeared in an angle with The Street Profits, RK-Bro, and Alpha Academy’s Chad Gable.
Steveson became the only heavyweight to win the Dan Hodge Trophy twice during the 2021-2022 season, and captured his second consecutive NCAA heavyweight championship and third Big Ten wrestling title, going 13-0 in the conference.
Steveson won an Olympic gold medal in the 125 kg weight class in freestyle wrestling at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, held in 2021.
The 2022-2023 NCAA D1 Wrestling Championships will be held March 16-18, 2023 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Damon Kemp was introduced as the newest member of the group on tonight’s NXT 2.0 episode during a backstage segment involving Roderick Strong and The Creed Brothers.
Dissension continues to be teased between Strong and the Creeds, as Strong interfered in their match last week against The Viking Raiders, leading to a Creed Brothers win.
The Creeds informed Strong that they have a rematch against Viking Raiders on next week’s episode, and Strong responded by introducing Kemp. The Creeds said that new members were supposed to be a group decision, as the issues between the three continue brewing.
Kemp, real name Bobby Steveson, is the older brother of WWE signee and Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson. He made his in-ring NXT debut on the January 11 episode, losing to Cameron Grimes. Kemp has also appeared on 205 Live, NXT Level Up, and scored a win on last week’s NXT UK episode.
Kemp signed with WWE last year, and his training at the WWE Performance Center was first reported in February 2021.
Four WWE wrestlers announced selections on night two of the 2022 NFL Draft.
The Miz, Titus O’Neil, Happy Corbin, and Gable Steveson all appeared on stage in Las Vegas to announce draft picks on the second night of the NFL Draft.
O’Neil announced a second round pick for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Corbin announced a second round choice for the Kansas City Chiefs, Steveson announced the second round selection of the Minnesota Vikings, and The Miz announced the third round pick for the Cleveland Browns.
Each wrestler has local ties to the team that they announced selections for, as The Miz is from Ohio, Corbin is from Kansas, O’Neil is from Florida, and Steveson attends the University of Minnesota.
Miz and O’Neil’s appearances were announced ahead of time in a press release by WWE last week.
The first round of the NFL Draft was held on Thursday night, while rounds two and three were held on Friday. Rounds four through seven will be held on Saturday.
The new issue of the Wrestling Observer is out right now. Among the highlights are:
The far more important story regarding Paul Levesque than his retirement from wrestling, which is his health, what he went through, and how that impacts his future both in and out of wrestling
WWE weekend shows, cards, ticket sales, secondary market sales, comps, Saturday main event, key results regarding the main event scene, the Hall of Fame, Shad Gaspard, Undertaker and NXT Stand & Deliver.
2021 Shad Gaspard/Jonathan Huber award winners
New Japan Cup final coverage, the angles building to Sumo Hall, MVP, best match poll and the final two shows.
Stardom’s two shows at Sumo Hall. A look at the key matches and what is next for the largest women’s wrestling company in the world.
Finances of UFC and WWE, including how they are so similar as businesses as well as where they are different. We also look at the key business deal each has that doesn’t involve TV rights and how WWE got so much of a better deal with a product that otherwise would have driven one-quarter the revenue and why
Full coverage of this week’s UFC show
Who was the best college heavyweight of all-time
More on the arrest of Chael Sonnen, why the felony charge was dropped and the lawsuit regarding the case
Ric Flair and Mark Madden
TV ratings and key points from those ratings for every show this week including peak segments, what type of viewers each show generates, who draws the youngest audience and how the shows rank with all of television and in the sports world.
The return of the Universal champion of champions tournament
More notes on the second Triplemania show this year
Notes on New Japan US shows
The wrestling career and post-wrestling life of the former Rocky King
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Monday News Update
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw as well as the latest wrestling and MMA news. You can send questions for tonight’s show to [email protected]
Raw tonight is the final show from Dallas. Not much has been announced. The big thing will be the Cody Rhodes promo. Rhodes is slated for the Raw brand going forward. The idea is for it to be memorable promo. Roman Reigns will be on the show and Veer is supposed to make his debut. The University of Kansas vs. North Carolina final of the NCAA tournament starts at 9:20 p.m. Eastern so the first hour plus won’t be going against the game. The game will hurt, but the Raw after Mania often goes against the NCAA finals and is still usually the highest or among the highest numbers of the year. In theory this should be the top number of the year coming off good numbers last Monday and Friday.
Gable Steveson will not be on Raw tonight as he flew back home to Minnesota according to PW Insider. He will be in as a regular after the college semester.
Our Sports Illustrated story on WrestleMania week is here.
As far as the attendance, WrestleTix has 131,772 as the combined number for the two shows. Of that, a minimum of 11,000 are comps since the comp number for each night was 5,500 as of Thursday and there would be more comps on the final days. WWE announced it was the biggest gate in the history of Mania and if you combine the two nights it would be easily. The company did not give a figure surprisingly as they have done every year for the past decade plus, even with the record. They would almost surely announce the combined gate at the end of the month if not earlier.
Total Google searches for the two days was 2 million. They’ve beaten that in the past for one show, although not in the last few years. It was 1.55 million on Friday & Saturday and 450,000 on Sunday. For yesterday, Roman Reigns was No. 6 for 200,000. Of the characters on the show, Steve Austin ended up being the most searched at 500,000 with Reigns and Cody Rhodes next at 200,000.
We will have more complete numbers by midweek for all the shows, but Supercard of Honor based on early reports was up 177.5% from the prior Supercard of Honor PPV show based on television cable. Early reports indicate maybe 10% of an AEW number, but this is early for anything in that kind of comparison. ROH had not done much for a few years in that realm.
Other Notes
Bad Bunny’s alum El Ultimo Tour del Mundo, which featured the song Booker T, won a Grammy for Best Musica Urbana (Urban music Latino category) . The Grammy took place last night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas (thanks to Brian Henke)
El Hijo del Vikingo said that he hurt himself on a show in Chiapas. He said that Dorian Roldan told him to be careful and because of that, he is taking time off now to make sure he’s ready for 4/30 for his TripleMania main event match in Monterrey where he and Rey Fenix face the Yong Bucks. Myzteziz Jr. replaced him on weekend shows (thanks to Rene Ochoa)
New Japan put up the Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White match from Madison Square Garden on its YouTube page for free (thanks to Suju Abraham)
Combate Global will host an all-women’s show on Friday night on Paramount +. Claudia Diaz of Spain and Houston faces Maneula Marconetto of Italy in the main event. Diaz is the WBC World Muay Thai champion and will be fighting on her 27th birthday.
RGR Promotions in Los Angeles is advertising El Hijo del Santo and Psycho Clown on the same show this coming Sunday. This will be a political story to watch since AAA does not allow its wrestlers to work on shows with Santo, although that did happen in Dallas under the guise of two different shows by the same promoter. AAA and Crash had a falling out over this point.
Midwest AlL-Star Wrestling on 4/9 in Wilmar,MN at the Wilmar Auditorium.
Two-time NCAA Heavyweight Champion and Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson appeared at WWE WrestleMania 38 for the second consecutive night Sunday, confronting Chad Gable.
Following the opening Raw Tag Team Championship match featuring RK-Bro retaining their titles in a three-way also involving Alpha Academy and The Street Profits, Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins of the Profits proposed a toast to RK-Bro, then invited Steveson into the ring to join them.
As Street Profits, RK-Bro and Steveson raised their cups, Chad Gable entered the ring and slapped Steveson’s drink out of his hand. Gable cut a promo announcing that he was going to give Steveson a free lesson, but Steveson knocked the mic away and delivered an overhead belly-to-belly throw to Gable, then mugged for the camera.
Steveson was introduced by WWE chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon on night one of WrestleMania.
After retiring from amateur wrestling last month, Steveson is expected to be a regular on the Raw roster imminently. He was drafted to the brand in the 2021 WWE Draft after signing an NIL deal with the company last September.
Olympic gold medalist and two-time NCAA Heavyweight Champion Gable Steveson appeared at night one of WWE WrestleMania 38.
WWE’s chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon introduced Steveson to the crowd, trumpeting his amateur wrestling accolades, then raising his arm.
Wrestling for the University of Minnesota, Steveson captured his second consecutive NCAA title on March 19, defeating Cohlton Schultz in the finals. Steveson symbolically left his wrestling shoes on the mat after winning, effectively announcing his retirement from the amateur ranks.
Steveson won his third Big Ten title with a 13-0 record during the 2021-2022 season, and also won Olympic gold in the 125 kg weight class in freestyle wrestling at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, held in 2021.
Steveson signed an NIL (name, image, likeness) deal with WWE in September 2021, and was drafted to the Raw brand in the 2021 WWE Draft. He has yet to make his in-ring professional wrestling debut, but is expected to be a featured regular on Raw imminently.
