News

WWE Star Bringing Back Former Gimmick

By Craig Ballantyne • Published 1st May 2024
Gunther with Imperium on WWE Raw

Following the WWE draft, one star looks to be going back to an old gimmick.

On the April 23rd edition of Raw, Gunther made his return to WWE for the first time since losing the Intercontinental Championship to Sami Zayn at WrestleMania 40.

On the show, The Ring General announced he would be entering the upcoming King of the Ring tournament before being interrupted by the former monarch, Xavier Woods. This led to Woods and Kofi Kingston taking on and defeating Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci.

After the loss, an angered Gunther stormed to the back. Meanwhile, after months of teases, Ludwig Kaiser turned on Giovanni Vinci, hitting a dropkick to his longtime ally’s head as he lay on the steel steps. For his part, Gunther was pleased by Kaiser’s actions.

Giovanni Vince Drafted To WWE SmackDown

The week after the assault, Imperium’s split became official as Gunther and Kaiser were drafted to Raw, while Vinci was moved to SmackDown. Vinci responded to the news on social media by using the hashtag ‘VeniVidiVinci’.

The phrase dates back to 2022 when that year’s draft saw Gunther and Kaiser moved to Raw, while Vinci remained on NXT on his own.

There, the star developed a new character that saw him become a wealthy and condescending snob. The gimmick lasted for four months before he was called up to the main roster to rejoin Imperium. Now that he is once again by himself, it looks like Vinci will pick up his singles run where he left off.

One man who is happy to see the return of the character is SmackDown announcer Wade Barrett, who was also the commentator for NXT when Vinci was part of the developmental brand. Barratt took to social media to simply say “Let’s do this Vinci.”