GUNTHER Reaches Milestone As Intercontinental Champion
Like Roman Reigns, GUNTHER is looking to shatter as many records as he can.
The past few years has seen an interesting change within WWE. instead of titles being passed around frequently over short reigns, several titles have now stayed in place with long-term champions.
The most obvious ones have been Roman Reigns and the Usos. Reigns has almost reached the 900-day mark as Universal Champion while the Usos have beaten the New Day for longest-ever reign as tag team champions of any kind.
But joining them in the long title reign department is another SmackDown star: GUNTHER. The former WALTER isn’t a stranger to long reigns; he held the NXT UK Championship for 870 days before losing it to Ilja Dragunov.
GUNTHER would only grow further from there. Not only did he capture another title – the Intercontinental Championship – less than a year after he lost the NXT UK title; he has since set another record.
According to a post by WWE on Instagram, GUNTHER’s 245-plus-day reign (as of February 9th, 2023) is now the longest Intercontinental title reign of the 21st century.
Other reigns this century that come close to GUNTHER’s include the following:
- Shelton Benjamin’s first reign (244 days)
- Cody Rhodes’ first reign (233 days)
- Randy Orton’s first reign (209 days)
- Shinsuke Nakamura’s first reign (201 days)
- Jeff Hardy’s fourth reign and Shinsuke/King Nakamura’s second reign (189 days each)
- The Miz’s fifth reign (188 days)
GUNTHER has also had numerous successful title defenses, the most notable being his critically-acclaimed battle with Sheamus at WWE Clash at the Castle.