WWE broadcaster Corey Graves thinks GUNTHER is on the verge of becoming a huge fan favorite. Graves has been doing commentary on the main roster since 2016 and since then he has watched the best wrestlers in WWE. He has a great deal of experience calling the top Superstars in the business. In that time he has a lot of information to base an opinion on. When he says a wrestler is about to be a big star, he is probably right.
This is exactly what he said about the current Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER. On a recent episode of WWE After The Bell with Corey Graves & Kevin Patrick, he talked about how popular GUNTHER is getting, week after week. Graves said on Gunther:
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“By the time the Royal Rumble rolls around, GUNTHER will be a fan favorite and wildly popular amongst the WWE Universe without changing a damn thing about what he does. That’s the magic of GUNTHER; he’s just good. It’s not dissimilar to back in the day when Mr. Perfect was around in WWE. Mr. Perfect was this guy who was telling you, ‘I’m not good, I’m perfect,’ and if you met that human being or your buddy or anybody you know said that, ‘No, I’m perfect,’ you would want to slap the taste out of their mouth.
“But when Curt Hennig got in the ring from bell to bell, whether it was against Roddy Piper or Bret Hart, or insert classic match here, people started going, ‘He might be perfect, and I may not want to buy his t-shirt, but God, I’m never going to miss anything he does in the ring.'”
H/T To Wrestling Inc. For Transcription
What Gunther Was Missing Beforehand
GUNTHER has always been this big imposing figure in WWE. It goes all the way back to his days in NXT. His matches were always good and impressive, but they weren’t memorable. He was missing something in his character. Having him lead his faction, Imperium, has helped him, but it still wasn’t enough. However, recently everything just fell into place for him.
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The Intercontinental Championship win helped GUNTHER a lot and put a spotlight on him. He has taken that extra attention and made sure to never disappoint. Graves brings up his recent match with Bronson Reed as an example of his growing popularity. Graves continued during his podcast:
“But my biggest take away, KP was less about the physicality. And I don’t want to say it wasn’t about the physicality because trust me, you know as well as anybody, that’s what I love. I love dudes just throwing hands and just beating the **** out of each other. It was the reaction from the WWE Universe when the bell rang and Samantha Irvin introduced and still or announced and still GUNTHER. There was applause. There was something organic in the crowd where they were appreciative of the battle they just witnessed, and it wasn’t a boo Gunther, you’re foreign. You’re the bad guy.”
Graves admits that GUNTHER doesn’t get the same reaction as an LA Knight or Cody Rhodes gets, but he has faith that he may by the time Royal Rumble comes around. He wants GUTHER to continue his domination of the WWE and doesn’t want him to change a thing.
Speaking of domination, GUNTHER just celebrated a big milestone in his long tenure as Intercontinental champion. He is already the longest reigning Intercontinental champion of all time, surpassing The Honky Tonk Man, but he has just hit the 500-day mark. He celebrated the milestone by posting a Tweet of him with his title.
Gunther’s reign has been very long and at this point, he may be looking at changing things up. He has two shoulders and his other shoulder may be feeling a little lonely without a belt on it. Seth Rollins needs a new challenger for his World Heavyweight Championship after Drew McIntyre, maybe GUNTHER will step in and take that heavy belt off his waist. Just to help Rollins with his sore back.
What have you thought of GUNTHER over the past year? Have you seen a vast improvement? Do you think he will be a fan favorite at the Royal Rumble? Do you see him still being the Intercontinental Champion this time next year? Who should dethrone him? What do you think will be the next championship he holds? Let us know if you think he can surpass Knight and Rhodes in popularity on our social media.
SOURCE: Wrestling Inc., WWE After The Bell with Corey Graves & Kevin Patrick, Wrestling Inc.
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