Gunther has had a remarkable run in the WWE. “The Ring General” set records as the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion and longest time spent in a Royal Rumble match, became King of the Ring and challenged for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. He achieved all of this in a 28-month main squad run.
Gunther's promotion dominance in professional wrestling is rarely seen, but he hasn't always outpaced the competition so effortlessly. Gunther, 36, will celebrate two decades as a professional wrestler next year. At the halfway point of that run – around 2013 or 2014 – Günther found himself at a crossroads that almost erased the legacy he would later leave behind.
“I had a day job, worked only the night shift and fought on the weekends for almost three years. “It took a toll that was hard to bear,” Gunther told CBS Sports. “My goal has always been to make a living from professional wrestling. That wasn’t in the cards, so I thought I should quit and focus on a career in my real job.”
“I spoke to [Westside Xtreme Wrestling] and said, “Either I run a wrestling school for you and that's my job, or I think I'll give up.” They were happy to do that. They wanted to start a wrestling school. They hired me and professional wrestling has been my day job ever since.”
Gunther, then known primarily as WALTER, was a synonym for Germany's advertising. He developed into one of Europe's best wrestlers, a reputation that caught WWE's attention when the NXT UK promotion launched in 2016. WWE has emphasized its global reach in recent years, frequently traveling around the world to produce its monthly pay-per-view events, which the company calls premium live events. One of these events is the first Bash in Berlin event on August 31st, the first WWE PPV in Germany.
Only those involved know whether Gunther will defeat Damian Priest to become world heavyweight champion at SummerSlam on August 3, but most expect Gunther to still have a significant presence in Berlin. The bash in Berlin takes place seven to eight hours by car from Gunther's birthplace of Vienna, Austria.
Gunther still remembers wrestling in small venues all over Germany. It's surreal to imagine that Günther could enter the 17,000-capacity Uber Arena as world champion after cutting his teeth wrestling in Berlin nightclubs.
“When [Ludwig] “Kaiser and I were at wXw, we were trying to get into it and put everything else in life aside to make it big and get it going,” Gunther said. “We put on 60 or 70 shows a month.” After each show, the big message was that we worked hard to make professional wrestling accessible again in Germany and to create a scene that people enjoy and are reliably entertained. Of course, I'm not the only reason this event is happening, but I would argue that my current presence in WWE is a factor in why they wanted to do a PLE there. I think it’s a very nice achievement.”
Gunther and his Imperium stablemate Kaiser would have been skeptical if they had been told a decade ago that they would one day play a role in bringing WWE's first PPV to Germany.
“It was highly unrealistic,” said Günther. “The chances weren't that great, and that hasn't been the case for most of my career, because WWE hasn't opened up to the independent world as much as they have. It changed a lot when they started signing people from the indies and being open to it.” It's been a long road to get here, so now I'm ready to enjoy it.
Returning to his long-time home of Berlin as world champion would be a crucial moment in Günther's career, but he is not putting the cart before the horse. Günther must first defeat reigning champion Priest, a superstar who is slowly moving away from the idea that he is an interim champion keeping the title warm.
“That would be the greatest success of my career,” said Günther. “I think that’s pretty obvious. It is the world heavyweight champion. It is the biggest prize there is to win in this sport. That would be a great achievement, but also a great responsibility and challenge. That's what I'm here for. I want to be in the mix with the best and in the ring with them all to prove myself in that regard.
