Brock Lesnar ending The Undertaker’s undefeated WrestleMania streak at WrestleMania XXX is still a sore spot for many fans more than a decade later.
For many, Taker’s streak should have never been broken. If it had to be done, others felt it should have gone to someone on the come-up, not Lesnar, whose resume was already quite impressive.
Respectfully, I disagree.
In the early 2000s, when Lesnar was “The Next Big Thing,” he dominated Undertaker, winning every one of their pay-per-view clashes. Then,
in 2004, Lesnar left WWE and cemented his legitimacy by tearing through the UFC and winning the heavyweight title.
If the streak had to end, then based on his resume, Lesnar was absolutely the right man for the job.
And the win mattered. Lesnar’s run after returning to WWE in 2012 had been underwhelming. But WrestleMania XXX changed everything. He became “The Conqueror.”
Yet, his victory would only be as big as the follow-up.
And man, what a follow-up.
Four months later, at SummerSlam, Lesnar faced John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. There, he dismantled “Big Match John” with a barrage of suplexes, making him look like an ’80s-era jobber en route to winning the WWE Championship.
Big moment. Bigger follow-up. A monster was born.
More than a decade later, WWE had a chance to recreate that formula. In December at Saturday Night’s Main Event, Gunther defeated John Cena in Cena’s retirement match. But he didn’t just beat Cena. He made Cena, a man who made a career out of telling people to “Never Give Up,” give up.
That should have set Gunther on a path similar to Lesnar’s 2014 run.
Should have, being the key phrase.
In the aftermath, Gunther became a troll. He mimicked John Cena’s “You Can’t See Me,” as he laughed in people’s faces while bragging about making Cena “tap like a little bitch.”
Yeah, about that.
Fans weren’t buying it. Earlier in 2025, Gunther proved that he was a quitter by tapping out to Jey Uso. Instead of raging against the Austrian oak for destroying the myth of their hero, fans responded by telling him, “You tapped out.”
WWE seemingly chose to lean into those nagging reminders for heat as Gunther tapped out to AJ Styles in a match on Raw. Of course, the referee didn’t see it, the match continued, and Gunther won.
That set up a rematch at the Royal Rumble, with Styles’ career on the line. In an encounter worthy of a Match of the Year nomination, Gunther sent Styles packing.
In two months, Gunther sent two legends humbly into retirement.
On paper, huge. But once again, WWE fumbled the follow-up.
More than an hour after retiring “The Phenomenal One,” Gunther fell short in the men’s Royal Rumble, dulling his shine. His continued mockery of Styles, however, drew the ire of Styles’ former tag team partner, Dragon Lee, whom Gunther beat and humiliated by removing the luchador’s mask.
That was two weeks ago. With just over four weeks to go until this year’s WrestleMania, Gunther sits idle on the road that leads there, his destination unclear.
Based on his humiliation of Lee, he could face another legend, WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio. As announcer Michael Cole reminded fans on Raw this week, Mysterio believes Lee is the future of lucha libre. Perhaps the fall of his protégé will prompt Rey to seek revenge.
Certainly, a match with Mysterio at WrestleMania is nothing to sneeze at. But this far into Mania season, that feels more like a delicious appetizer rather than a main dish on a card that features hot plates like Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton, Roman Reigns squaring off with CM Punk, and Brock Lesnar facing Oba Femi in a match billed as a main event long before Femi was announced as Lesnar’s opponent.
Whether it’s Mysterio or someone else, if Gunther’s Mania program is nothing more than a solid match on the card, it tells me that WWE dropped the ball in turning him into an attraction with his win over Cena. Rather than create a conqueror, it built a troll — one with a heavy-handed chop, but a troll nonetheless.
If WWE doesn’t course correct before or at Mania, that dropped ball will soon get deflated, and no amount of air will bring back its bounce.
