Gunther held the WWE Intercontinental title for more than 600 days. (Credit: WWE/Getty Images)
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Gunther has officially rebounded from his WrestleMania loss, winning the King of the Ring crown by defeating Randy Orton at WWE King and Queen of the Ring in Saudi Arabia.
It was just last month that Gunther’s historic 666-day reign as Intercontinental Champion came to an end at the hands of Sami Zayn. In a way, however, that was a necessary move in order for Gunther to continue to climb the ladder in WWE.
Gunther’s next step in his quest to be world champion? Becoming King of the Ring.
“The Ring General” toppled Orton via a crafty pinning combination to finish off the latest bout in a long line of stellar matches. Perhaps the most complete wrestler in all of pro wrestling, Gunther has been on fire in recent months, delivering a stellar match against Zayn at WrestleMania and fantastic match after fantastic match in the KOTR tournament.
A signature win over Orton—and in an instant classic, nonethless—in Saudi Arabia is really just the cherry on top, but it almost didn’t happen.
During WWE’s previous creative regime under Vince McMahon, there were plans in place for Gunther to be “buried” with bad booking. Even Gunther himself has admitted that he wasn’t a fan of the way WWE was booked during that era, but of course, Triple H and WWE’s new creative team has booked Gunther about as well as he possibly could be.
Gunther elevated the Intercontinental title to heights it hadn’t seen in decades, but it always felt like that championship reign was really just a stepping stone to bigger and better things. As great as Gunther’s run with WWE’s top midcard title was, he needed to lose to Zayn in order to transition to the next phase of his career.
A win over a legend like Orton, one of WWE’s most accomplished performers, ideally will serve as a traditional victory that catapults Gunther even further up the card. With a star of Gunther’s caliber, that should be easier for WWE than it has been in recent years when the King of the Ring winners didn’t benefit all that much from it.
WWE’s two most recent Kings of the Ring were Baron Corbin in 2019 and Xavier Woods in 2021, and neither star was exactly catapulted up the card because of their win. The difference, of course, is that Gunther has been significantly more successful as a singles than either of those stars, which should lead to optimism regarding Gunther’s potential to make the KOTR matter once again.
After all, Gunther did exactly that for the Intercontinental title, at times even making that belt the most coveted and well-booked championship on Monday Night Raw. Given Gunther’s recent track record of success as both a character and in-ring performer, there’s little reason to be concerned about how well he’ll perform as “King Gunther.”
The KOTR crown is a perfect fit with Gunther’s “Ring General” gimmick and the perfect way to continue his run as Raw’s best heel. It also will result in Gunther challenging the red brand’s World Heavyweight Champion—whoever that may be at the time—come SummerSlam.
Thus, Triple H’s creative team will do what WWE’s previous regime didn’t, and that’s making the KOTR crown a truly coveted one that propels stars to new heights. Gunther could feasibly go from Intercontinental Champion to King of the Ring to World champion in just a matter of months.
So, whether it’s Damian Priest, Drew McIntyre or someone else, that star may just be guarding the World Heavyweight title until Gunther takes it.