Gable Steveson, Olympic Gold Medalist, Agrees to WWE's 1st NIL Contract

WWE officially signed Olympic gold-medal-winning wrestler Gable Steveson to a historic contract Thursday.

The contract is WWE's first name, image and likeness (NIL) deal with an NCAA student-athlete.

In addition to being a member of the WWE roster, Steveson will be permitted to defend his 2020-21 NCAA national championship at 285 pounds in freestyle wrestling at the University of Minnesota during the 2021-22 campaign.

According to ESPN's Mike Coppinger, the 21-year-old Steveson said it is a multiyear deal that will see WWE set up "remote training facility" near the University of Minnesota campus so he can learn the nuances of pro wrestling while also wrestling collegiately.

Regarding his decision to sign with WWE rather than pursue an MMA career with UFC or explore an opportunity with WWE's main rival, AEW, Steveson said: "I've been on WWE since I was really young. I was on guys like Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman for a very long time. So growing up watching them, me being an entertainer on the wrestling mat, it just felt like it was the right choice."

On Twitter, he referred to signing with WWE as a "childhood dream."

Steveson won gold at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and made an appearance at WWE SummerSlam shortly thereafter.

Even before that, it was assumed Steveson would pursue a WWE career, as he had been in contact with WWE executive Paul "Triple H" Levesque and appeared in the crowd at an NXT TakeOver event.

Commenting on Steveson and the uniqueness of his NIL deal, Triple H said, via Coppinger:

"Gable impressed us well before he became a U.S. Olympic gold medalist. He has all the tools to be a generational talent: a world-class athlete with size, speed, determination--and the ability to captivate an audience with his incredible charisma."

"The introduction of NIL allows us to create a more direct path from college to WWE, a benefit to athletes as well as the WWE Universe, as Gable will have an immediate presence with our company while working towards earning his degree and defending his national championship. The future is bright for him in WWE."

WWE Superstar Seth Rollins chimed in on the signing:

Steveson is looking to follow in the footsteps of Kurt Angle and Lesnar, perhaps the two most notable amateur wrestlers to enjoy success in WWE.

Angle won a gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics before becoming a multi-time world champion in WWE and one of the greatest in-ring workers of all time.

Like Steveson, Lesnar was an NCAA champion at the University of Minnesota before experiencing a rapid ascent to the top in 2002.

Lesnar returned to WWE in 2012 after an eight-year hiatus and then returned again at SummerSlam after more than a year away. All told, Lesnar is an eight-time world champion and one of the most successful Superstars in WWE history.

On the subject of how he believes his skill set will translate to WWE, Steveson said:

"Being able to learn how to take bumps and with the wrestling background I have right now, I think I can adapt to all of it really quick. I think with the charisma and the confidence and the attitude that I bring to the wrestling mat, it will translate over to the WWE really fast, and I feel that I can ... go on screen and have a good role and know what to do perfectly."

Steveson's multiyear talent contract with WWE will kick in once his college wrestling career is over, although he will be permitted to make appearances for WWE in the meantime.

With the NCAA enacting new NIL rules this year, college athletes are permitted to make money through the use of their name, image and likeness for the first time. WWE never previously had the opportunity to offer that type of contract. 

Once Steveson makes the full-time leap to WWE, he will join his older brother Bobby Steveson, who formerly wrestled at Minnesota and recently signed with the company as well.

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