Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar are two of the best athletes to ever grace a WWE ring. They had their battles in the past so Angle knows how great Lesnar was firsthand.

However, it seems like the Hall of Famer slightly favors a recently released WWE star over The Beast.

Gable Steveson was trying to follow in the footsteps of Angle and Lesnar in WWE, but it never panned out.

Steveson was released on May 3 after reportedly not making significant progress in training. One of the reasons he was not popular with the fanbase was previous sexual misconduct allegations back in 2019.

After being released by WWE, Steveson was signed by the Buffalo Bills on a three-year contract despite never playing football before. It was a surprising move for many but Angle was not shocked because of how special the 24-year-old star was.

The wrestling legend even thought Steveson was a little bit better than Lesnar. Here’s what he said on The Kurt Angle Show:

“The kid’s a super athlete. You think Brock Lesnar is an athlete? This kid, he might be a little tad bit better athlete than Brock Lesnar. I don’t say that you know? That’s very difficult for me to say because especially for Brock’s size, he’s an incredible athlete, him and Gable Steveson are. But this guy, I mean he’s fast, he’s athletic. I’ve seen him do backflips, just standing there. He’s a 250-pound monster. Good for him to be able to do stuff like that. It’s just incredible so I wasn’t surprised if he signed with the Buffalo Bills.” [6:33 – 7:16]

Another surprising fact about Gable Steveson’s contract with the Buffalo Bills is he’s on the active roster and not in the practice squad. He will be playing as a defensive end and will wear the No. 61 jersey.

Kurt Angle shares his first meeting with Gable Steveson

Kurt Angle was the only Olympic gold medalist in WWE history until the company signed Gable Steveson to a contract. Steveson won a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It was also natural that they would cross paths and here’s what happened:

“I met him. He’s like, ‘Hey, Kurt Angle, I just want to tell you, I respect your career, and I want to be just like you.’ I was like, ‘Oh, thank you, Gable.’ He goes, ‘You know what? No, I want to be better than you.’ I was like, holy s**t. [Laughs] What an a**hole thing to say [laughs]. I said, ‘Well, good luck, man,'” Angle said. [H/T Fightful]

As it turns out, Gable Steveson was not the next Kurt Angle or Brock Lesnar. He only had one official match in WWE but had plenty on NXT live events and SmackDown dark matches.