Gunther’s WWE career may have looked quite different had a pivotal change not occurred shortly after his arrival on the main roster.
In 2022, the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion transitioned from the now-defunct NXT UK brand to kick off his run on NXT proper. With the move, the real-life Walter Hahn was rebranded as Gunther after long using the much-loved ring name “WALTER.” The change came under the direction of former WWE CEO Vince McMahon and was met with ample criticism within the wrestling community.
Ahead of his big WrestleMania 41 title defense against Jey Uso next weekend, Gunther recalled the four months he worked under McMahon on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show.”
“It was a strange work experience, I would say,” he said with a laugh. “The direction was very confusing. It was hard to figure out what was expected of me, which, usually, there’s never an issue with that.
“At the end of the day, everything came around for me. It was lucky off in my career in terms of timing. Right place at the right time, very often. And we’re all 100% a Hunter (Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque) guy. That’s been my whole career in WWE. My directions came from Hunter.”
The timing worked out about as well as it could have for Gunther (aside from losing his name). Levesque’s heading of NXT UK helped Gunther become a fan-favorite European wrestler with clear, worldwide superstar status in the future.
McMahon’s disgraced departure came in light of sex-trafficking allegations in 2022, leading Levesque to take over the company. Since then, WWE has seen a dramatic and successful overhaul. Gunther, in particular, has flourished, breaking the record for the longest Intercontinental Championship reign before capturing WWE’s World Heavyweight Title and beginning his current run as a top champion.
If it weren’t for Levesque, Gunther believes wrestling would be in a much worse place overall.
“Obviously he’s my boss, I’m in a very good position in the company right now, but I think to a certain degree he saved professional wrestling, to a big degree,” Gunther said.
“I remember 2005 when I started, and all the Europeans that tried to get in WWE — there was such a mystery about it. Like, who to talk to and what to do. It seemed so far away — such an unrealistic point to achieve.
“Hunter was the one who pushed for opening that world to WWE, and created so many jobs and opportunities back then for so many of the guys like us, all the European guys,” he continued. “He opened the floodgates for the wrestling world outside of WWE. I think that change has been very positive and I think that was a big achievement. The business has changed since then, and it changed to the better. I think it’s the hottest that it is right now, and that all started when he started NXT, and working with guys that worked on the indies before.”
WWE has reached new levels in the mainstream in recent years. To start 2025, the company debuted on Netflix with “WWE Raw,” the weekly show on which Gunther primarily appears. In other instances, more notable media presences like Logan Paul have gotten involved in a wrestling capacity.
Paul has fit right into his villain role as an already polarizing figure for his YouTube and social media influencer career. Because of that, his treatment as a professional wrestler has been argued as special, but it’s been no bother to Gunther. In justification, the champ said anyone would take the types of luxuries Paul receives, which he can attest to after signing a new WWE deal to start 2025.
“I got my tour bus now, and they started giving me a locker room. I enjoy it a lot, I have to honestly say,” Gunther revealed. “I asked for that. What you don’t ask for, you don’t get.
“At the end of the day, that whole feeling like, ‘We’re the boys,’ and stuff like that, I totally get that. When I started out in Germany, we started to be like, ‘OK, we’re going to run more shows. We’re professional. We got to stick together.’ All of us only made — I don’t know, if you weren’t one of the top guys, you only made like 100 euros per event or something like that. It wasn’t really big business for anyone. So you stick more together, you do it for the sake of it. We all love it, we all do it together, and all give everybody a great show.
“At a certain level, that’s with everything,” he continued. “It just turns into a career, a profession, and that’s how you have to approach it, as well.”
Regardless of what happens at WrestleMania 41, Gunther has been a smash hit throughout his WWE run. When that time came to negotiate at the end of 2024, he didn’t have a doubt he’d stick around.
“I’m set where I am,” Gunther said. “How could I [leave]? I saw a statistic recently — since I got signed in 2019, I’ve been champion like 80% or 90% of the time, or something like that. So, obviously, they always saw me in a certain way and gave me their trust. I enjoy that. Even on the smaller scale, I could step up and take the responsibility and get the trust, earn the trust of someone, and I can fulfill that and make it worth it. Those are the moments that make me proud and drive me.”
Gunther’s WWE career may have looked quite different had a pivotal change not occurred shortly after his arrival on the main roster.
In 2022, the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion transitioned from the now-defunct NXT UK brand to kick off his run on NXT proper. With the move, the real-life Walter Hahn was rebranded as Gunther after long using the much-loved ring name “WALTER.” The change came under the direction of former WWE CEO Vince McMahon and was met with ample criticism within the wrestling community.
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Ahead of his big WrestleMania 41 title defense against Jey Uso next weekend, Gunther recalled the four months he worked under McMahon on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show.”
“It was a strange work experience, I would say,” he said with a laugh. “The direction was very confusing. It was hard to figure out what was expected of me, which, usually, there’s never an issue with that.
“At the end of the day, everything came around for me. It was lucky off in my career in terms of timing. Right place at the right time, very often. And we’re all 100% a Hunter (Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque) guy. That’s been my whole career in WWE. My directions came from Hunter.”
The timing worked out about as well as it could have for Gunther (aside from losing his name). Levesque’s heading of NXT UK helped Gunther become a fan-favorite European wrestler with clear, worldwide superstar status in the future.
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McMahon’s disgraced departure came in light of sex-trafficking allegations in 2022, leading Levesque to take over the company. Since then, WWE has seen a dramatic and successful overhaul. Gunther, in particular, has flourished, breaking the record for the longest Intercontinental Championship reign before capturing WWE’s World Heavyweight Title and beginning his current run as a top champion.
If it weren’t for Levesque, Gunther believes wrestling would be in a much worse place overall.
“Obviously he’s my boss, I’m in a very good position in the company right now, but I think to a certain degree he saved professional wrestling, to a big degree,” Gunther said.
“I remember 2005 when I started, and all the Europeans that tried to get in WWE — there was such a mystery about it. Like, who to talk to and what to do. It seemed so far away — such an unrealistic point to achieve.
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“Hunter was the one who pushed for opening that world to WWE, and created so many jobs and opportunities back then for so many of the guys like us, all the European guys,” he continued. “He opened the floodgates for the wrestling world outside of WWE. I think that change has been very positive and I think that was a big achievement. The business has changed since then, and it changed to the better. I think it’s the hottest that it is right now, and that all started when he started NXT, and working with guys that worked on the indies before.”
WWE has reached new levels in the mainstream in recent years. To start 2025, the company debuted on Netflix with “WWE Raw,” the weekly show on which Gunther primarily appears. In other instances, more notable media presences like Logan Paul have gotten involved in a wrestling capacity.
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Paul has fit right into his villain role as an already polarizing figure for his YouTube and social media influencer career. Because of that, his treatment as a professional wrestler has been argued as special, but it’s been no bother to Gunther. In justification, the champ said anyone would take the types of luxuries Paul receives, which he can attest to after signing a new WWE deal to start 2025.
“I got my tour bus now, and they started giving me a locker room. I enjoy it a lot, I have to honestly say,” Gunther revealed. “I asked for that. What you don’t ask for, you don’t get.
“At the end of the day, that whole feeling like, ‘We’re the boys,’ and stuff like that, I totally get that. When I started out in Germany, we started to be like, ‘OK, we’re going to run more shows. We’re professional. We got to stick together.’ All of us only made — I don’t know, if you weren’t one of the top guys, you only made like 100 euros per event or something like that. It wasn’t really big business for anyone. So you stick more together, you do it for the sake of it. We all love it, we all do it together, and all give everybody a great show.
“At a certain level, that’s with everything,” he continued. “It just turns into a career, a profession, and that’s how you have to approach it, as well.”
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Regardless of what happens at WrestleMania 41, Gunther has been a smash hit throughout his WWE run. When that time came to negotiate at the end of 2024, he didn’t have a doubt he’d stick around.
“I’m set where I am,” Gunther said. “How could I [leave]? I saw a statistic recently — since I got signed in 2019, I’ve been champion like 80% or 90% of the time, or something like that. So, obviously, they always saw me in a certain way and gave me their trust. I enjoy that. Even on the smaller scale, I could step up and take the responsibility and get the trust, earn the trust of someone, and I can fulfill that and make it worth it. Those are the moments that make me proud and drive me.”
