Gunther’s main roster run continues to be one of the Triple H regime’s biggest successes. Just weeks after he was called up to the main roster, creative control fell into the hands of WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque. This spelled good news for The Ring General, as Gunther had always been considered a “Triple H guy” throughout his run in NXT. Triple H proceeded to book him like a generational talent as well, strapping him with the WWE Intercontinental Championship and sending him on a record-shattering reign from June 2022 until April 2024. This past Monday, WWE Monday Night Raw selected Gunther as its No.1 overall draft pick.
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All of that might have never happened if WWE was still in its old regime. Reports circulated in Summer 2022 that then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon “legitimately wanted to bury” Gunther and send him back to NXT. McMahon would retire in the wake of sexual misconduct and hush money payment allegations before that would ever happen.
Gunther himself saw the writing on the wall when it came to how McMahon would feel about him.
“For a long time I didn’t want to go to the US. The product before Triple H was not what I enjoyed. I just didn’t want to be part of that,” Gunther told Gorilla Position. “I am who I am and that’s what I can do best. A big part of that is I need to have my time in the ring and have that time to put on the matches I can put on. That chance would not be there under the old regime.”
That sentiment is evident in Gunther’s presentation. Unlike most WWE superstars, Gunther does not have a specific move-set or finisher. He wins his matches with standard maneuvers, like chops or clotheslines, but simply dials up the intensity to an 11.
“With Triple H, he always saw that in me, and he always had that vision for me,” Gunther said of his current boss. “I got lucky that a lot of things in my career took place at the right time. It was a little bit of a leap of faith when I first made the move over. Everything worked out in the end.”
Gunther currently competes on WWE Monday Night Raw and has set his sights on the upcoming King of the Ring tournament.
