Gunther Has Changed WWE Hall Of Famer’s Mind
The great performances of Gunther have changed a WWE Hall of Famer’s opinion of the World Heavyweight Champion.
The last time Gunther defended the World Heavyweight Title against Jey Uso was at Saturday Night’s Main Event in San Antonio. It was a match where the champion won cleanly to keep his title.
One week later at the Royal Rumble in Indianapolis, Jey Uso surprisingly won the Men’s Royal Rumble match. Many people watching likely thought John Cena, CM Punk, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, or somebody else might win, but the “YEET” man found a way to beat Cena to win the match. That win meant that Jey could choose which champion he wanted to face at WrestleMania 40.
After a brutal attack by Gunther on Raw, Jey Uso decided against going after the Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 41. Instead, Jey wanted one more shot at the powerful Austrian.
Rikishi is a WWE Hall of Famer who is Jey’s father. While speaking on his Off The Top podcast, Rikishi admitted he was wrong about Gunther being a main player in WWE.
“Congratulations to Gunther. I was wrong about Gunther earlier. I’m going to man up because I didn’t see Gunther as being the main player. But obviously, there’s things that I don’t see, because I’m not on the road with them. I don’t see the work ethic of this guy, I don’t see the professionalism of this guy. I’m a fan of Gunther. I see his work. He’s a really good heel.”
As he continued, Rikishi talked about his excitement for the Gunther-Jey match.
“I think that if Jey and Gunther bring their A-game, which I know they will. Gunther has to feel just as excited as Jey is. Because if I’m not mistaken, this is Gunther’s first WrestleMania main event.
So this means just as [much] to Gunther [as] it does to Jey. But on the flip side, for both sides of the family, we all rooting for them two to get out there and steal the show.”
Gunther Not Thrilled About Facing Jey Uso At WrestleMania
Regarding Jey Uso’s WrestleMania challenge, Gunther doesn’t seem too thrilled about it.
“I’m not interested in wrestling Jey at WrestleMania. I was looking for somebody who is one of the last few remaining guys on the roster that I would say are maybe one step ahead of me, and it would have been nice to be in there with one of them, to bring them down one inch and make a step up.
I think the Rumble was packed like never before. With Jey, there was basically the underdog winning in all of this. But also, on the other hand, he’s maybe the most popular guy we have right now, and people would really want to see him succeed. And they’re strapped in to follow him along this whole ride to WrestleMania now.”
The World Heavyweight Champion spoke about how many times he has wrestled in the past.
“I must have wrestled him, I don’t know, 30, 40 times including live events. And I’ve got to give it to him, in general, he’s a very likeable guy, easy to talk to, and very warm to other people, always very friendly and very nice.
It almost reminds me a little bit when Daniel Bryan had the yes movement going. It’s a special situation right now. And good for him to be in that position right now. I think he deserves that. But like I said, leave me out.”
It’s possible that those Gunther comments were in character, but it is still true that he has wrestled Jey many times in the past.