WWE Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER has revealed that he doesn’t have long term goals in the WWE, claiming that he has already achieved the goal he set for himself in wrestling.
Under his real name WALTER, GUNTHER signed for the WWE in 2019, staying in Europe to work for their NXT UK brand.
He made an immediate splash in the promotion, winning the NXT UK Championship early in his run. He held the belt for a record 870 days, before losing it to the Russian wrestle Ilja Dragunov.
He was called up the main roster in 2022, and was pushed hard very early on. His name was changed from WALTER to GUNTHER, and he soon won the Intercontinental Championship in the company.
He is stepping into the ring with Drew McIntyre and Sheamus at WrestleMania 39, but he seems content with his career so far.
GUNTHER revealed in an interview with BT Sport that he has achieved the goal in his life of making a living wrestling, and claimed that he is “not a guy for long term goals”.
“My goal in my life was always I want to make a living of being a wrestler. That’s my goal, and I achieved it, like, I don’t know, six or seven years ago.
I had to wrestle 10 years before, and on the weekends, and then that was something where I was like ‘okay, that’s astonishing!’, because in Germany or Austria back then, it’s such a niche.
It’s like what we do there’s no realistic outcome to actually build up a business or something like that, where you can actually live off. So, everything that happens now just feels like the cherry on top, if that makes sense.
That’s how I try to approach it I just focus on what’s right in front of me and make the best out of that and give it my all and then I can focus on the next thing.
I’m not a guy for long-term goals or plans and especially in this business there’s a lot of things that are not in your hands like that can you cannot control so my focus is more on the things I can control myself and get the most out of that”
GUNTHER also discussed his name change from WALTER to GUNTHER, which went down poorly with wrestling fans. However, the Austrian claimed that he would have done the same had he been running the WWE, revealing that Walter is a much older name compared to Gunther.
“I’m 100% I wasn’t too worried about it because at the end before I was Walter that’s my real name so at some point that they will have an interest to changed it and make it their own.
I understand that I think I would act the same if I would own the company and at the end of the day it’s not that big a difference because Walter is a very old German name.
It’s like, nobody my age is named Walter in Austria anymore. ‘m over here I’m a rarity when it comes to that, so Gunther just is in the same category as that.
I think it would have been the other way around and Gunther would be my real name, and they would change it to Walter, they would have been the exact same reaction.
I think people like to jump on things and they’re like, I don’t know, almost like a collective panic that people join in,and even if other people that are restless make comments or something it’s, I don’t know, I worry about my stuff.
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 at the end it comes out easy going.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit BT Sport for the interview and give a H/T to Atletifo for the transcription