Corey Graves Names Top WWE Star He Believes Will Be A Fan Favorite By The Royal Rumble

The first stop on the Road to WrestleMania is the 2024 Royal Rumble, which will emanate from Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. While the specific lineup for this event is still uncertain, "WWE SmackDown" commentator Corey Graves recently shared a hot take that he firmly believes will come to fruition leading into the Royal Rumble.

"By the time the Royal Rumble rolls around, GUNTHER will be a fan favorite and wildly popular amongst the WWE Universe without changing a damn thing about what he does," Graves said on a recent episode of WWE's "After The Bell" podcast. 

"That's the magic of GUNTHER; he's just good. It's not dissimilar to back in the day when Mr. Perfect was around in WWE. Mr. Perfect was this guy who was telling you, 'I'm not good, I'm perfect,' and if you met that human being or your buddy or anybody you know said that, 'No, I'm perfect,' you would want to slap the taste out of their mouth. But when Curt Hennig got in the ring from bell to bell, whether it was against Roddy Piper or Bret Hart, or insert classic match here, people started going, 'He might be perfect, and I may not want to buy his t-shirt, but God, I'm never going to miss anything he does in the ring.'"

To illustrate GUNTHER's rising popularity, Graves referenced his title defense against Bronson Reed on last week's episode of "WWE Raw." After GUNTHER defeated Reed to retain the Intercontinental Championship, he received a noticeable amount of cheers from the live audience — an occurrence that hasn't happened too often during his run as a heel. GUNTHER may not exactly match the reactions garnered by LA Knight or Cody Rhodes, but Graves is confident that "The Ring General" is on track to becoming one of the most beloved WWE Superstars. 

If you use quotes in this article, please credit "WWE After The Bell" and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.