Gable Steveson is finally pulling back the curtain on why his much talked about WWE run never truly took off, and the former Olympian is placing the blame squarely on himself.

Speaking candidly about his time with the company, Steveson admitted that his heart was never fully locked into professional wrestling. While the opportunity was massive and the spotlight was bright, his desire to keep competing in legitimate sports created an internal tug of war that he says he ultimately could not win. That conflict, by his own admission, meant WWE never got his best.

During an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, Steveson explained that trying to balance amateur wrestling ambitions with the demands of sports entertainment was a losing battle from the start.

“I had a great experience. I have nothing wrong with anybody there. TKO was great, ‘Triple H’ Paul Levesque was great, Stephanie, Vince… everybody was great,” Steveson said. “I just had a competitive drive that I needed to get out. When you have that gap is there, you can’t do both. I was trying to bridge both, and I wasn’t giving my 100% to the business. If I’m not going to give 100% to the business, then you might as well X me out because it’s already over with. That’s practically how it happened.”

Steveson’s comments offer rare self reflection from an athlete who entered WWE with enormous expectations following his Olympic gold medal success. Internally, the company viewed him as a long term project with crossover star potential, but Steveson now admits his competitive mindset was still rooted elsewhere.

Despite his release, Steveson made it clear there is no bitterness toward WWE. In fact, he openly left the door cracked for a possible return one day, albeit under very different circumstances.

“I would love to go back in the future. I would love to do a sport and go out there and dominate,” Steveson continued. “I would love to go if it meant well, and I would do it again most definitely because I have no hard feelings to them.”

Interestingly, Steveson even laid out a lofty scenario for that comeback, saying he would want to return after establishing himself as a multi time UFC World Heavyweight Champion. While that path remains speculative, it underscores where his competitive focus truly lies.

Steveson was signed to WWE from September 2021 through May 2024, but his in ring resume remained limited. Across nearly three years, he worked just one televised match on NXT, facing Baron Corbin, making his WWE run one of the most talked about what if stories of the modern era.