Livescore
Gunther revitalized the Intercontinental Championship during his run with the title, which is why many were excited when he became the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Unfortunately, his current reign isn’t living up to the hype.
At WrestleMania XL, Gunther’s 666-day reign as Intercontinental Champion ended after he lost to Sami Zayn. However, he quickly made his way back to the championship picture by winning the World Heavyweight title against Damian Priest at SummerSlam. However, his current reign is incomparable to the one he had before.
For this list, we will look at four reasons why Gunther’s World Heavyweight Championship has flopped in WWE.
#4. Gunther hasn’t defended the World Heavyweight Champion in a meaningful feud
Since winning the title in August 2024, The Ring General defended the title against Randy Orton, Sami Zayn, Damian Priest, and Finn Balor. Although three of them are former World Champions, it still didn’t pose a sufficient threat to the champion.
When the World Heavyweight Champion was the Intercontinental Champion, he faced not just any mid-carders but those who ranked on the higher end of that roster. He defended the title against Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, Jey Uso, and more.
These stars made his reign exciting as they all had the potential to beat him, but his recent challengers for the Heavyweight title didn’t. If anything, only The Viper possessed the most significant threat, but there was that thought that he was just injured, Sami hasn’t been a World Champion, while Damian and Finn had way too much going on between them at the time to become World Champions.
#3. Drew McIntyre, CM Punk, and Seth Rollins were the talking points of WWE RAW in 2024
CM Punk and Seth Rollins began the year with the promise of a heated feud, which was cut short when Drew McIntyre injured the returning star at the 2024 Royal Rumble. Still, this only meant that all three men found a way to feud against each other.
Drew and Seth went on to battle at WrestleMania, all the while they both still had their beef with Punk. McIntyre vs. Punk became the rivalry of the year, which ended with an intense Hell in a Cell match at Bad Blood.
Since Punk, McIntyre, and Rollins were the main talking points, this caused many feuds to fall in the background, even ones involving the World Heavyweight Championship.
#2. The World Heavyweight Championship hasn’t been placed prominently
Since Gunther became the World Heavyweight Champion at SummerSlam, he has only defended the championship four times on television. Not only did this hurt the superstar, but the prestige of the championship as well.
The Ring General previously defended the IC title continuously, even on RAW and SmackDown. His continuous appearance on weekly shows to showcase his dominance helped elevate his character as a champion. However, now that he is mainly put on the sidelines and placed in fewer matches, he is being forgotten.
#1. Gunther losing to Cody Rhodes at Crown Jewel took away his momentum
At the 2024 Crowl Jewel, Cody Rhodes defeated The Ring General to become the inaugural Crown Jewel Champion. Although this defeat didn’t take away the World Heavyweight title from the RAW star, it did take away his credibility.
The Austrian star gained the moniker The Ring General for a reason, and that is because he commands and dominates the ring like no one else. Losing to a co-champion just put into perspective that he is still vulnerable and his weaknesses were exposed.
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