Gunther Attributes Restoring Prestige to WWE Intercontinental Title to Match Quality
Long may the Ring General reign.
Gunther has known nothing but domination since signing with WWE in January 2019. Then going by WALTER, the Ring General arrived in NXT UK and immediately set his sights on NXT UK Champion Pete Dunne, WWE's longest-reigning titleholder of the 21st century up until that point. Three months later, Gunther was christened as NXT UK Champion and embarked on his own record-setting reign of 870 days. While he would lose the prize in August 2021, Gunther had gold once again less than a year later when he defeated Ricochet to become WWE Intercontinental Champion in June 2022.
Gunther Attributes Intercontinental Title Reign to Great Matches
Long may the Ring General reign.
Gunther is still in the middle of his run as WWE Intercontinental Champion, widening the gap between himself and previous longest-reigning titleholder The Honky Tonk Man. As of this writing, Gunther has held the title for 528 days and counting, a sizable jump from The Honky Tonk Man's 454-day reign. While the statistics make it undeniable, Gunther ultimately attributes the greatness of this reign to the matches he has put on along the way.
"The work and performances that I put into my reign is what makes my reign special. That basically sums it up," Gunther told Under The Ring. "It's one of the most prestigious titles that has lost a lot of steam in the last years."
The WWE Intercontinental Title is one of WWE's most complicated prizes. The championship's early lineage is historic, with WWE Hall of Famers like Shawn Michaels and Ultimate Warrior holding it right before they became full-blown world champion main-eventers. Modern talent like The Miz and Seth Rollins brought back some of that prestige to the WWE Intercontinental Championship in the 2010s, but its momentum fluctuated in between.
"On one hand, it's on management to decide how prominent the title should feature. On the other hand, it's on the champion to put in the performances that forces management to represent the title prominently," Gunther continued. "I'm very proud of the work I've put into it. I'm still in the middle of it. A lot of records have been broken along the way. The status it has right now and what makes it special is because I'm the champion and I've put the work in."
Gunther defends the WWE Intercontinental Title against The Miz this Saturday, November 25th at WWE Survivor Series.