Ahead of WWE WrestleMania 39, Intercontinental Champion Gunther spoke with Ariel Helwani.
Gunther was asked to describe his feeling towards his first year on the main roster:
“It’s been good, right? I usually don’t go into things with lots of expectations. I just went with what they offered me more or less, and tried to make the best out of it so far. I’m very pleased with how things happened and where we’re heading.”
On if he had goals for his first year on the roster:
“No. That’s in general for me. I think that’s where it’s different for myself than with most of my colleagues now. My goal in my life was always, I want to make a living off being a wrestler. That’s my goal and I achieved that, like, I don’t know, six or seven years ago.”
On having his name changed from Walter to Gunther:
“I wasn’t too worried about it. Walter is my real name, so at some point, they will have an interest to change it and make it their own. I think if it would have been the other way around and Gunther would be my real name, they would change it to Walter and I would have had the exact same reaction. I think people like to jump on things, almost like a collective panic, and people, they join in. Even if other people that are restless make comments or something, it’s, I don’t know. I worry about myself and if they feel the need to express worry about me, that’s nice of them, but I don’t think there’s any need to worry about anything.”
If he is trying to make the Intercontinental Championship prestigious again:
“That was my approach. I was like, I get the opportunity now and I’m gonna make the absolute most out of that, like, make it mean something again. You’re right. Like the last two years, it wasn’t a very popular presented title. But often it is on the one that holds the title to make the change again, and yeah, I was successful doing that. I think when people talk about the Intercontinental Championship match on a card, it’s seen in a very different light than it was in the last years.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Ariel Helwani on BT Sport with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
