GUNTHER Discusses Not Liking WWE Product, Reticence To Come To The US

You can count GUNTHER among the long list of WWE talent seeing positive professional benefits under the leadership of Triple H. He was signed when Vince McMahon was still at the helm, however, and some fans cringed when that regime changed his previous ring name, WALTER, to the one we see today. Ultimately the rebrand proved inconsequential, and given the in-ring success GUNTHER's enjoyed, it's not something most fans even think about anymore. But it was some of those Vince McMahon-isms, like prioritizing gimmicks over match quality, that made GUNTHER reluctant to sign with WWE in the first place. He elaborated on that during an interview with "Gorilla Position."

"From what the product was before Triple H was not what I enjoyed. I just didn't want to be a part of that," GUNTHER said. "I am who I am and that's what I can do best. And the big part of that is, I need to have time in the ring, I need to have time to put on the matches I can put on. And that chance would just not be there under the old regime. And with Triple H, he always saw it in me, and I think he always saw that vision for me. And I got lucky that a lot of things in my career just fell into place at the right time. It was a little bit of a leap of faith when I first made the move over [to the US]. But everything worked out in the end."

GUNTHER's historic 666-day reign as Intercontinental Champion ended at WrestleMania 40, and there are some that believe he is being groomed for a world title run. "I'm the kind of wrestler that's really made for being a champion, if that makes sense," GUNTHER said. "Because I'm able to represent it well."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Gorilla Position" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.