Last Sunday, at the NXT Great American Bash, Olympic Gold Medalist Gable Steveson made his in-ring debut where he faced Baron Corbin. The match ended in a double count-out and the two men had a brawl following the match.
Gable Steveson was not accepted as the next Kurt Angle by most of the fans present at the venue of his debut pro wrestling match. Most of the audience was supporting Corbin in the match by cheering for him and booing for the next Kurt Angle.
WWE legend discusses Kurt Angle’s comparison of Gable Steveson
WWE wants to appoint a new Kurt Angle and that person is Gable Stevenson. In September 2021, Gable Steveson signed with WWE. He was a 2020 Olympic gold medalist in the freestyle wrestling heavyweight division.
On the other hand, WWE legend Kurt Angle was also an Olympic gold medalist wrestler before entering WWE. Kurt was in the pro wrestling industry for a long time and he provided so much to the business over the years. His retirement has caused a huge blow to fans around the world.
Therefore, WWE wanted to fill that gap by introducing someone new as the next Kurt Angle. But fans were not impressed with Gable Steveson’s debut match performance. Hall of Famer Booker T discussed Gable’s debut on his Hall of Fame Podcast.
“They booed that boy out of the building. Baron was a big babyface. I’m on the fence with this kid, Gable Steveson. I’m not bought in. If I was the jury, the verdict would still be out. The kid, he’s got one foot in, he’s got one foot out. These fans are rabid. They want to know if you’re here to stay, man. They ain’t looking for no part-timers. We ain’t looking for guys that just want to hang around and look good. No, you gotta get in there and show me something, son. You know what, you better do it quick.”- said Booker T.
He further said: “Well, he ain’t no Kurt Angle. Kurt Angle came in, and he was willing to fall in and dive into learning this business. Not that Gable Steveson isn’t, but I think Gable Steveson has some unfinished business still left in the amateurs, I think he got unfinished business in the Olympics. That right there, that’s a legacy in itself. For him to be a two-time Olympic gold medalist, come on. That’s the Wheaties box. He’s never got to do anything ever again in his life. So I understand.”
Booker T’s controversial feud with Angle involving wife Sharmell
WWE Universe knows of Kurt Angle as one of the best wrestlers in the business. He has been a part of many great storylines during his time in WWE. But that doesn’t summarise his career in WWE. It also includes a distressful storyline from 2005 involving Booker T and his wife.
The storyline started with Kurt Angle’s feud with Booker T by costing each other the opportunity to win the WWE Championship during a four-way contest. However, it soon turned into a cringe storyline. The story showed Kurt Angle sexually harassing Sharmell and also claiming to have “bestiality s*x” with her.
In 2021 on “The Kurt Angle Show”, Kurt Angle opened up about that storyline, claiming that he was uncomfortable doing the part. He revealed that the idea was brought up by Vince McMahon.
Revealing Vince’s liking for the storyline, Kurt said- “I think Vince thought I had this fetish for black women and he thought it would be a funny program. I was not comfortable by any means. I had so much respect for Booker T and Sharmell. To do that and pretend I was stalking his wife, it was the worst angle I have ever done. It was the worst storyline I’ve ever done. I did it anyway because I’ve always been a team player, but I was not comfortable doing it.”
Both Booker T and Kurt Angle never talked about this storyline again due to the discomfort they had while performing in that storyline.
