This weekend will be a celebration of John Cena, as we say goodbye to the iconic WWE performer as he wrestles his last match at Saturday Night’s Main Event in Washington, D.C.
While we’re doing that, WWE hopes we’ll spend a decent amount of time thinking about his opponent, former Intercontinental and World Heavyweight champion, and Last Time Is Now Tournament winner, Gunther. The 38-year-old Austrian big man is someone Triple H and his team at WWE hope to have in main events for at least the next
five years — and are probably hoping for ten-plus of using Gunther as an attraction.
Toward that end, they sent Der Ring General to spend the morning with their partners over at ESPN. Gunther visited with the First Take team on Weds., Dec. 10. I’ve enjoyed the guy since he was a lot heavier and went by WALTER, so my positive review odd his appearance probably won’t sway you. You can watch the appearance in full above.
I did want to point out one answer Gunther gave that will be very relatable if you were over the age of 12 in the late 2000s and early aughts and was watching WWE. Asked how the locker room views Cena, Gunther replied:
“I mean, I can only speak for myself. And I haven’t really — I shook hands twice with him, I didn’t really have any interactions with him otherwise. I just remember when I started wrestling, like 20 years ago now, I remember that I hated that guy in jorts on that TV week by week. And I always thought it doesn’t belong in the ring.”
A lot of people felt that way, and we weren’t even aspiring pro wrestlers… just (mostly) guys who complained online and did the “Sucks” half of a dueling chant at shows. After that, it was back to remixing the story of the match from his Raw promo Monday night, which was just booked in kayfabe, and that Gunther will sell alone on television this week:
“So I’m a big purist, I’m a big traditionalist. And I said it on Monday, John Cena’s definitely the greatest sports entertainer of all time. But I’m the greatest professional wrestler there is right now, so that’s going to be the conflict.”
Gunther also popped me with his critique of First Take host Stephen A. Smith’s Top 5 Favorite Wrestlers. The man who beat Goldberg at an SNME in Atlanta over the summer has come to respect Smith’s fave, but he still subtly roasted the hot take pioneer with another statement that will pop a few internet wrestling fans:
“I don’t think i ever seen anybody put Goldberg number one on the list of the best wrestlers”.
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