The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
Gable Steveson was believed to have a chance to be the next Kurt Angle, and he just might have to be after the surprisingly negative reaction he received during his messy in-ring debut for NXT.
Steveson, 23, signed with WWE in the summer of 2021. After an NCAA heavyweight championship and an Olympic gold medal win — along with a few WWE cameo appearances and being drafted to Raw — he finally stepped between the ropes for a match with Baron Corbin at NXT’s Great American Bash on Sunday night.
The program was quickly put together in the weeks leading up to the event — coinciding with Corbin’s much-needed reboot. Steveson, presented as a babyface, had received mostly positive reactions in his previous WWE appearances.
Then something changed Sunday in Texas.
Steveson, sporting his gold medal in traditional red amateur wrestling tights, was rejected by the live crowd. They were actually cheering and chanting for Corbin – a usually loathed heel. No matter what Corbin and Steveson did in the ring — which was quality action — they couldn’t flip the crowd.
Chants of “You’re not Angle!” even rang out. Add on top of that the match ending in a double count-out to chants of “boring” before the two started brawling again, and you get a bit of a nightmare scenario for a babyface debuting after a two-year wait.
Maybe some of the shine wore off almost a year removed from winning gold. Maybe some fans took a look into Steveson’s less-than-pristine past as he and former University of Minnesota teammate Dylan Martinez were arrested in June 2019 on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct but did not face criminal charges due to “inadequate evidence.” Maybe it was the very early ankle lock and the WWE audience just loving to reject gold medalists.
Whatever the reason, WWE has a critical choice to make now.
They can take the route Vince McMahon laid out with Angle back in 1999, immediately turning him into a pompous heel. It took off and launched a Hall of Fame career, but does Steveson have the charisma to pull it off?
NXT could continue to try to shove Steveson to the audience as a babyface and hope Sunday was an aberration and see if he can turn the fans back on his side — while keeping a heel turn in their pocket for his next feud.
Or it can hedge for a few weeks, sprinkle in some heel and babyface and see what hits and misses before making the decision going into Steveson and Corbin’s next meeting. It could provide them a chance to launch Corbin as a babyface after years as a mid-card.
My gut tells me a full heel turn will be in order with Steveson — and probably the sooner the better. Maybe he and real-life brother Damon Kemp teaming up or going into a program against each other.
It’s unclear if the reaction Steveson received was expected or jarring to Shawn Michaels and his team in NXT, but it’s clear they have a decision to make. The quicker the better.
Story time
I wrote two weeks ago that Collision was the best thing to happen to AEW because it frees up more TV time for quality storytelling. Dynamite gave us a perfect example of that as we saw two stories evolve over the course of one show. A.R. Fox went from a good guy with a heartfelt vignette from Darby Allin to attacking Orange Cassidy after his loss to costing Allin his match and going full heel as a member of Mogul Affiliates.
On a little lesser scale, we got Don Callis getting Chris Jericho to team with Konosuke Takashita vs. Daniel Garcia and Sammy Guevara this week and then a locker room scene of nearly the entire Jericho Appreciation Society expressing displeasure with their leader. It all felt like stuff that might have taken weeks to play out in AEW in the past.
The 10 Count
Logan Paul pulling ring announcer Samantha Irvin, Ricochet’s real-life fiancee, into the discussion, was exactly the dash of personal spice their feud needed heading into SummerSlam.
Not having MJF turn on Adam Cole – who was fitting expecting to get smashed with the AEW championship – makes me think Cole will sense weakness and eventually turn on Max. Could the MJF babyface era be beginning? The dude was sharing pizza and tequila with FTR after. We will see. But glad AEW is riding with this a little longer.
The Great American Bash was another example of just how well and logically some of NXT is booked. Tony Angelo’s prison story ends with him and Stacks winning the tag title from Gallus. Andre Chase’s questionable towel throw-in when Thea Hail wasn’t tapping out to Tiffany Stratton. Roxanne Perez getting to pay homage to mentor Booker T with a grocery story brawl prior to her win over Blair Davenport in a weapon match.
The Street Profits teaming up with Bobby Lashley appears to be happening after they teased showing their aggressive side in an interview with The Post last week. Having Angelo Dawkins being awkward with his wine and in a sweatsuit as Lashley offered them custom suits was a good way of establishing a potentially gradual makeover.
WWE really does love undercutting its women’s tag team champion at the expense of a singles feud, doesn’t it, with Charlotte and Bianca Belair beating Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green?
CM Punk and AEW really need to find a way to make the whole two-champ, real champ story feel different as we’ve seen it so many times before — just as we have spray-painted titles. But hey, Collision has its own world champion now.
Unless there is some injury we don’t know of that needs to heal, WWE putting Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus – arguably their best women’s feud – on the Aug. 14 Raw and not SummerSlam feels very perplexing. Could they actually leave Rhea Ripley off, too?
The excellent story WWE is telling with Maxxine Dupri felt like it would have been perfect for Lana a few years ago instead of dating Bobby Lashley and having nothing come of her being the sole survivor at Survivor Series.
Get L.A. Knight a win in the SummerSlam battle royal and a Slim Jim ad …. Yeah!
Who has a creepier art game Don Callis or Dexter Lumis?
Wrestler of the Week
Dana Brooke, NXT
After a lackluster stint on the main roster, Brooke picked up the biggest win she’s had in a long time by pinning Cora Jade clean to end a strong kendo stick match that let her create with an increased level of violence. She followed it up and emotional tweet that signaled the the unleashing of a more aggressive side from her — saying she finally snapped. Brooke needed a reboot, and she is off to a solid start.
Match to Watch
Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso, Tribal Combat for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship at SummerSlam (8 p.m., Saturday, Peacock)
Whatever the outcome is here, it will be a major turning point in The Bloodline story. If Reigns wins, then The Usos are on the outside looking in and maybe The Tribal Chief rebuilds the group. Jey Uso pinning Reigns for a second time to end his historic title reign and take his place as chief would send shockwaves through the industry and leave a ton of uncertainty at the top of WWE’s card. How it plays out is a must-see.