By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
World Heavyweight Champion Gunther appeared on The Ariel Helwani show on Wednesday, April 9. The following are the highlights of the interview that can be viewed below or at YouTube.com.
On working for Vince McMahon: “I was under Vince [McMahon] for four months or something,” he said. “It was a strange work experience,” Gunther said of working under Vince McMahon. “It was kind of like the direction was very confusing. Like it was hard to figure out what was expected of me. I’d never had an issue with that. But at the end of the day, everything came around for me. It was lucky in terms of my career. I was at the right place at the right time very often. But, yeah, overall I’m 100 percent a Hunter [Paul Levesque] guy like you said. In my whole career in WWE, like my directions came from Hunter.”
Gunther on Paul Levesque: “I would say to a degree and obviously he’s my boss and I’m in a very good position in the company right now, but I think to a certain degree he that saved professional wrestling to a big degree, I think. I remember when I started in 2005, all the Europeans tried to get into WWE. It was such a mystery about it, like who to talk to and what to do. It seemed so far away, such an unrealistic point to achieve. And Hunter was that one that pushed for opening that world to WWE. He created so many jobs and opportunities back then for so many of the guys, like for us, all of the European guys. Yeah, he opened the floodgates for the wrestling world outside WWE.”
Whether he’s an old school guy like Bret Hart who didn’t want his own dressing room: “No… I just made this step now recently where I enjoy some favors. I got my tour bus now. They started giving me a locker room too. I enjoy it, I have to honestly say… I signed a new contract and that was part of it.”
Gunther on whether he considered other options before signing his new deal at the end of 2024: No, no, no. I’m set where I am. How could I? I think I saw a statistic recently like since I signed in 2019, I’ve been champion 85 or 90 percent of the time, or something like that. So, obviously, they always saw me in a certain way and give me that trust. And I enjoy it.”
Whether he wants to wrestle into his fifties: “Uh, it depends what I look like at 50 year-old… We’ll see. Nothing is set in stone… The business is changing so much too, like our schedules are so much better. The WWE is in such a great spot now. We have so many guys are over, who are super popular, where before it was more structured where there was maybe one or maybe two top guys and everything was catered toward them. Now we have so many guys. It’s like he’s a top guy and he’s a top guy and he’s a top guy. That’s my vision at least with the business going forward that it’s going to be if you want to see Gunther, there’s like three or four big matches a year and that’s it. A little more similar to how UFC is structured. Obviously we have weekly TV, it’s a little bit different scenario, but I think that’s going to be a natural progression if things keep going like that. Everybody is smarter now too. Look at some of the guys like [CM] Punk just came back and he’s in his forties, but he fit right in. Like fifteen years ago, ten years ago, somebody in their mid-forties it would have been like he’s on his way out. All the top guys are like in the older age now. As a professional wrestler, the more mature you become, the better your performances become. Like the maturity for me is always a big part of the art form of professional wrestling. I would even say that with maturity, your promos are better because you just know more compared to when you’re 25. So yeah, the schedule is better, I think that’s going to be the progression going forward, a natural one.”
Powell’s POV: Gunther said he had only two conversations with Vince during the four months he worked for him. He also said that he requested a tour bus when he negotiated his new deal. Gunther’s appearance starts at 61:30 and lasts roughly an hour. Other topics include whether he was surprised by Jey Uso winning the Royal Rumble, John Cena’s heel turn, whether he watches the WWE television shows, William Regal reaching out to him about joining WWE, turning down WWE twice, how much UFC he watches, his friendship with Ludwig Kaiser, his favorite wrestlers, and more.
Be the first to comment