News

Gunther Taken To The Limit By Surprising WWE NXT Champion

By John Canton • Published 14th March 2025
Gunther

The World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER had a tough time beating a WWE NXT Champion who had the support of his home country fans in Spain.

Even though Gunther is the World Heavyweight Champion on the WWE Raw brand, it was not a surprise to see him on SmackDown in Barcelona.

During his in-ring promo on SmackDown, the World Heavyweight Champion Gunther said that as the greatest European wrestler of all time, he had to be here, but he wished they were in Madrid instead. That drew boos from the Barcelona crowd.

As for why he was there, Gunther claimed that he was there to prove a point since the fans love Jey Uso. Gunther said that once this bell rings, there’s no substance to what Jey Uso does. Gunther said he heard of A Kid who is one of the best wrestlers from Spain and said that the fans all love him, but this doesn’t mean a damn thing. Gunther introduced Axiom, who is one half of the NXT Tag Team Champions and he is from Spain.

Before his NXT run as Axiom in a mask, the talented Spaniard wrestled as A Kid for many years and he did so without a mask.

In a match that went about 9 minutes, Axiom nearly beat Gunther a few times. At one point, Axiom hit his Golden Ratio kick that he uses as a finisher, but Gunther was able to kick out.

To win the match, Gunther had to wear down the resilient Axiom, so that’s what Gunther did by hitting three Powerbombs in the match before being able to put Axiom away.

The match was Axiom’s second televised loss of the week since he and Nathan Frazer failed to beat The Hardys for the TNA Tag Team Titles in a match on NXT on March 11th.

Gunther Has Impressed Jey Uso’s Father Rikishi

Rikishi is the WWE Hall of Fame father of Gunther’s WrestleMania 41 opponent, Jey Uso. While Rikishi has been critical of the Austrian champion in the past, Rikshi turned a corner recently by praising Gunther for being an outstanding performer.

“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.”

Regarding the WrestleMania 41 match, Rikishi is excited about it.

“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.”