Report: Gable Steveson to return to college wrestling in 2023-24

Olympic Gold Medalist and two-time NCAA wrestling champion Gable Steveson intends to return to collegiate wrestling next year, according to FloWrestling.

Steveson won back-to-back national titles for Minnesota in 2021 and ‘22 before retiring from wrestling. In the summer of 2021, he won an Olympic Gold Medal in the delayed Games.

Initially signed with the WWE as his post-collegiate plans, Steveson was seemingly done with collegiate wrestling.

Now, that’s reportedly changed going into the 2023-24 season.

“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,” JD Rader of FloWrestling wrote. “Steveson started his career at Minnesota as a true freshman in the 2018-2019 season. With 2021 not counting toward his eligibility, Steveson has one year of eligibility remaining.” 

Steveson’s return comes amid his victory at Final X where he earned the United State World Team spot at 125 KG. He’ll attempt to win another international gold medal.

At the college level, Steveson finished with 86-2 over the course of four seasons. The 2020 campaign ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and he finished third at the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

His only two losses were to Penn State’s Anthony Cassar, the 2019 NCAA and Big Ten champion.

There are currently no indications Steveson would wrestle anywhere else besides Minnesota, based on Steveson’s message to FloWrestling.

In the present day, Steveson has a goal of more Olympic Gold, this time in the 2024 games in Paris. Safe to say, amateur wrestling internationally and collegiately is still there, despite his training for the WWE.

“The itch and fire will never go away,” Steveson said. “And I feel like if you ask any competitor, old or young, I think it’s always there. But some people just don’t have the bodies to do it because they’re a little older. But I think me just turning 23, I still had that extra fire and I want to see what I could do. I wanted to test my limits. And so I stayed ready just in case the time came where I could come back.”

It is unclear when Steveson will be on WWE programming, but he said he anticipated soon, just didn’t reveal exactly when.

“I am still doing my thing,” 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.”