Olympic Gold Medalist Gable Steveson Signs With WWE

WWE has its first real competition for talent in years with the swift ascendance of AEW. It is now a war to acquire as many entertaining personalities as possible, and WWE decided to go outside the box by inking Gable Steveson to a multi-year deal, as reported by ESPN.

Steveson won gold at the Tokyo games earlier this summer in freestyle wrestling. What's more, this is actually an NIL deal; Steveson is set to embark upon his senior year at the University of Minnesota, and will now do WWE on the side. Per ESPN:

Gable Steveson, the heavyweight freestyle wrestler who won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last month, has signed a multiyear deal with WWE, Steveson told ESPN.

The 21-year-old signed a NIL deal with WWE that will allow him to attend the University of Minnesota for his senior year and defend the Division I national championship at heavyweight. WWE will set up a remote training facility for Steveson near campus where he'll learn the finer points of in-ring work with WWE coaches.

What an extremely sick gig. Going to college while moonlighting as a WWE star? And getting paid all the while? It cannot possibly get better than that.

What a summer for this young man. A gold medal and the promise of payment from WWE while he still has a year of college left. Hats off to Steveson.