12 Cursed Comparisons That DOOMED Promising Wrestlers
2. Gable Steveson (Kurt Angle)
Olympic gold winner Gable Steveson worked 17 matches for WWE, but only one of them was televised for a reason. That effort vs. Baron Corbin at NXT: Great American Bash 2023 proved to be one of the worst bouts in living memory. The bloom was off management's rose after that.
They realised that hey, Gable might not be Kurt Angle.
Those who follow WWE life closely rolled their eyes and shouted about Chad Gable during all of this. If the company wanted someone who could emulate Kurt's finest, then they had him. They'd just decided to call the poor guy "Shorty G" for a while when he richly deserved the kind of fanfare Steveson was getting.
Steveson's in-person appearance at SummerSlam 2021 was designed to introduce him to the fans as Angle's spiritual successor. Sadly for WWE, few emotionally invested in that idea until they saw what Gable could do between the ropes where it counted.
That proved to be smart. Nearly 2 years later, his first match vs. Corbin was an outright disaster and a cutting example of how difficult the pro game can be. Not just anyone, gold medal winning athlete or not, can pull on a singlet and do what WWE stars can do weekly.
Steveson proved that, and the Kurt Angle comparisons weighed heavy on him. He was taken out of the firing line then not-so-quietly released from his contract in May 2024. Gable Steveson would go down in history as one of the biggest busts in promotional history.
Yikes.