WWE: Gable Steveson Health Update, Jimmy Smith on Commentary Changes, Legado Del Fantasma

Gable Steveson Reportedly Underwent Heart Procedure Last Month

Gable Steveson reportedly underwent a medical procedure for a heart-related issue this past September, according to ESPN.

ESPN’s Mike Coppinger reported that Steveson had been diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome prior to traveling for last year’s Olympic Games event in Japan. According to the Mayo Clinic, this is a congenital heart condition that causes faster than normal heartbeats. This is also stated to not be life-threatening but can cause heart problems if not treated.

Coppinger reported that WWE doctors had informed Steveson to undergo the treatment but only after they had guided him through a process that spanned many months.

Coppinger also reported that Steveson has been recently training full-time at WWE’s Performance Center for his wrestling career in the company.


Jimmy Smith Comments on When He was Told of Plans for Commentary Team Changes

As noted before, WWE recently announced that they will be making changes to their commentary teams for their RAW, SmackDown, NXT, and PPV shows starting with tonight’s SmackDown show. Among the changes included RAW brand commentator Jimmy Smith being removed from WWE’s commentary team due to Smith revealing that he was released from the company.

During a recent episode of the Unlocking the Cage podcast, host Smith gave his thoughts about his time in WWE and when he first learned of the changes to WWE’s commentary teams.

“Triple H accidentally told me before the show Monday. He screwed up and told me [about the commentary changes]. He didn’t mean to. I’ll explain in a second. What happened was I was doing my prep for the show and we had a production meeting and on-air, Seth Rollins had cut a promo saying, ‘Hey, D.C. hates Riddle just as much as I do’ and so everybody in the production meeting turns to me and goes, ‘What did he mean? Do they have some kind of personal problem?’ Because I’m the MMA guy, right? And I said, ‘Well, Riddle’s been critical of fighter pay of the UFC and Daniel Cormier’s kind of considered a company guy’ so I go, ‘That could be what he’s talking about. That’s the only thing I could think of’ and so anyway, before the show, I go up to Riddle and I go, ‘Do you and D.C. have any kind of beef or problem?’ And he goes, ‘No, no, no! We’re cool.’ He goes, ‘He might be upset that I out-wrestled Jon Jones and he couldn’t,’ meaning he beat — the famous photo of Riddle first place on the podium at State and whatever place Jon Jones was. He beat Jon Jones wrestling twice in New York, whatever. So he goes, ‘Hey, he might be mad I out-wrestled Jon Jones twice.’ I go, ‘Oh man, that’s a good line. Gotta use that.’ So I go to Triple H. Triple H standing there, I go, ‘Hey, I just talked to Riddle and he gave me this line about how he out-wrestled Jon Jones twice’ and Triple H goes, ‘Okay, cool. Give that note to Cole’ and I went, why would I have to give that note to Cole if I’m calling the match on Saturday? Oh. I’m not calling the match on Saturday. Oh, I’m probably fired. In about two seconds, my brain went, that’s so — okay… and I was like, all right. So I knew basically the whole show on Monday night that I wasn’t coming back so when I got the call Tuesday, I was not particularly surprised …

I’m laughing about our opening segment being about me which is weird. I have never gotten used to articles about myself or anything like that. I’m not that kind of famous. So it’s always weird when it’s a news story and it’s about me, it’s kind of surreal. I am no longer with the WWE. It was broken by Variety today. I knew about it Tuesday, right before the show actually, ironically enough but I carried through, got through the show… I’m not gonna be doing Extreme Rules this Saturday, I will not be on Raw ever again. My time with the WWE is up… So I’m in a weird position where I have to comment about myself. Like I said, I knew Tuesday and the story broke today and it’s always weird because it’s the second time I’ve kind of been in this position. Obviously, the UFC and then with WWE and there’s always that second wave of you find something out, however you find it out, something happens and then the story breaks and it’s like, oh my and then you get everybody’s reaction to it because obviously I’m not gonna spill the beans until the story comes out. I’m not gonna do that. Just not that kind of person. Anyway, so today, I’m dealing with the fallout so my phone is just constantly going off in a good way. People going, ‘I really appreciate you dude. You were great.’ Some of the wrestlers I made connections with while working, I’ve spoken to them today and it’s just been an interesting day

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com


Legado Del Fantasma Added to WWE’s Upcoming Mexico Events

WWE recently announced that Legado Del Fantasma’s Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, and Cruz Del Toro will be making an appearance at their upcoming tour of Mexico.

It was announced that all three will be appearing at their October 29th house show event in Monterrey and October 30th house show event in Mexico City.

It was also announced that they will be facing off against Los Lotharios in tag team matches at both events.

Legado Del Fantasma is currently expected to be make their main roster debut for WWE’s SmackDown brand very soon and as early as tonight’s SmackDown show in Worcester, Massachusetts.