Gable Steveson: ‘The world has opened its door for me, and I’m going to step through’
Yahoo Sports Combat columnist Kevin Iole spoke with Team USA wrestler Gable Steveson about his incredible buzzer-beating win in the Gold Medal match in Tokyo, his plans for the future, and some of his favorite wrestlers of all-time.
Video Transcript
KEVIN IOLE: Hey, folks. I am Kevin Iole. Welcome to Yahoo Sports. And it is a great privilege of mine right now to have maybe the most iconic athlete at the 2021 Olympics. I guess the 2020 Olympics in 2021 in Tokyo. If you watched any of that, you saw an amazing finish and a great wrestling match. Gable Steveson defeats Georgian, Geno Petriashvili, in the final, what, one half of the second wins the fight. Just an amazing thing to win the gold medal. Joining me now is Gable Steveson.
Have you come down from that high? I mean, I have to imagine that not only winning a gold medal at 21 years old and defeating a three time world champion the way you did, but doing it in the fashion you did have had to change your life pretty much.
GABLE STEVESON: Yeah, most definitely it changed my life. And it changed-- it opened up a lot of doors for me to see with UFC, a lot of UFC posts yesterday about me. A lot of UFC articles that came out saying WWE too, and I mean maybe even NFL. So it's most definitely life changing.
KEVIN IOLE: Let's talk about that gold medal match. So you're winning the match on much of the way. Then he comes back and he takes the lead on you in the final round. And he's up by 3 points as you go into the final seconds. What is your thought process, Gable, as you fall behind? And I know you're in the competition. Are you able to even to think at that point of what the score is and what the time is?
GABLE STEVESON: That match was definitely a roller coaster. I was winning and I'm down 8 to 5 with 30 seconds left. And that last 30 seconds, I was like, I just I didn't come here for silver. I switched a gear from me losing to, I need to get a gold medal, and I need to pull it off in 30 seconds. I think that was the difference right there, that mindset, that heart.
KEVIN IOLE: You're lucky from one standpoint with the name, image, and likeness thing in the [? MTA ?] now where you can go back to college and still compete and be able to get compensated. Does that make it easier or harder to decide, do I want to try to compete in the WWE? Do I want to try to go to the UFC or MMA in general? Or do I want to stay in Minnesota and wrestle again?
GABLE STEVESON: Most definitely, there's so many options. With this NIL that passed, I mean, it could make a decision a little harder to leave and go pro all of a sudden right away. And so with this happening, I could return to Minnesota, I could end up on with Roman Reigns doing something or Paul Heyman, or you could see me fighting for a UFC belt. Who knows? I mean, there's so many cool things that are going on.
KEVIN IOLE: How do you look at MMA? Have you been a fan of MMA? And have you done any striking? And do you feel like you could go into MMA and be a factor quickly with the experience you have?
GABLE STEVESON: Most def I could go into MMA and be a factor quickly. Look at all the wrestlers that are champions right now. I think there's so many. I think all of the champions besides maybe one or two are all wrestlers. And I've been working on striking. I'm working on striking for a while now. I've been actually doing a little boxing classing here and there, rolling around jiu jitsu. Could I be a big factor in the game with the wrestling background that I provide, just like DC? Most definitely I think I can.
KEVIN IOLE: The one thing that I would be concerned about for you is, to get MMA experience, you would have to go to a developmental league or something to get experience where the pay isn't right there. And so that it would seem to make the WWE be more of a big option for you. If you do go pro wrestling route, you think you'd be a good guy or a bad guy?
GABLE STEVESON: I think right now, [INAUDIBLE] I'm the American hero. I brought a gold medal back to America. People are going to love the Gable Steveson side of things. They're going to enjoy the show. I play my role to the best of my ability. And I'm going to make sure the crowd knows that Gable has showed up to be the next big thing in entertainment just like the rock was. But who knows, maybe bigger?
KEVIN IOLE: Who's your favorite wrestler?
GABLE STEVESON: My favorite wrestler? Right now? Right now, Roman Reigns. I mean I've met him in person. He's a fantastic dude. He's most definitely one of my favorites. But you got to think, guys like Triple H, Triple H was outstanding back in the day. You got Jeff Hardy, so many Kane, The Undertaker, there's so many. But probably my favorite--
KEVIN IOLE: My favorite's the Iron Sheik. You like him?
GABLE STEVESON: I know the Iron Sheik. Yeah. Probably my favorite now is most definitely Roman Reigns. Roman, he's the top dog. Watching him go on stage, I try to match what he does, and how he looks, and the way he looks, how he talks. He's fantastic.
KEVIN IOLE: When do you think you'll make a decision on what you're going to do? I mean, I know there's no time crunch on you, at least at this point. But how long do you think you'll take before you decide what the next step is?
GABLE STEVESON: I'm going to take a little bit. I'm going to take some trips. Next week, I go to WWE Summer Slam. So you'll see me in the crowd there. I'm going to enjoy my time. The world has opened its door for me. And I'm going to step through it and see the best thing.
KEVIN IOLE: Awesome. Gable Steveson, thank you so much for joining me. All the best to you. And good luck in whatever you decide.
GABLE STEVESON: Yes. Thank you for having me.
