5 times WWE signed Olympic athletes
WWE recently made headlines when they signed Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson to a NIL contract.
Over the years, a number of athletes have successfully transitioned to professional wrestling. Companies usually have scouts tasked with bringing over competitors from other sports.
WWE, in particular, has an affinity for signing Olympic athletes since it's guaranteed a high-caliber athlete who can bring mainstream publicity.
Here are 5 times WWE signed Olympic athletes.
#5. Chad Gable wrestled for Team USA in the 2012 Olympics
A precocious professional wrestler with a successful amateur career, Chad Gable immediately earned comparisons with Kurt Angle. Angle has also showered Gable with praise on numerous occasions. During an episode of The Kurt Angle Show, he said:
"I think Chad Gable has so much potential. And I know the company started pushing him, and then they laid off, and pushed him and laid off. I don’t know if it has anything to do with his size, but the guy is amazing. You know, in real life, he could whoop any of those wrestlers. So, you know, he’s a real-life bada**. To not have him go to the main event level where he deserves to be, just blows my mind. Because he is very talented. Great technical wrestler, former Olympian, you can’t ask for anything more than that.”
Prior to signing with WWE, Gable competed for Team USA at the 2012 Olympics in freestyle wrestling. He made it to the lower half of the draw's quarterfinals where he lost to Pablo Shorey.
#4. Mark Henry was an Olympic weightlifter before his WWE career
Before he was putting his opponents in the Hall of Pain, Mark Henry was a two-time Olympic weightlifter. Henry has also won the US National Weightlifting Championship, the NACAC Championship, the Olympic Festival Championship, the Arnold Classic, and the US Open.
When he was just 19-years-old, Henry qualified for the 1992 Olympics as a super heavyweight. Though he finished 10th, Henry impressed a number of veterans who said that he was a generational talent.
Following the 1992 Olympics, The World's Strongest Man was determined to make a mark on the sport. He also qualified for the 1996 Olympics and in the build-up to the Atlanta games received a tremendous amount of mainstream coverage. This was when Vince McMahon took the opportunity to contact Henry, a lifelong professional wrestling fan.
Unfortunately, Henry couldn't perform up to his standard at the Olympics due to a back injury. He retired after the Olympics and declared that he wouldn't return unless the sport had cleared its PED issues. He then put pen to paper on a ten-year contract with WWE and went on to have a Hall-of-Fame career with the promotion.