After setting the record for longest-reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion ever at 666 consecutive days, Gunther is now the WWE Champion after defeating Damien Priest at SummerSlam 2024. Although Gunther has remarked in the past that he sees Brock Lesnar as his “endboss,” the Ring General reiterated two other opponents in the WWE that he respects and who bring out the best in him in the squared circle.
“Ilja [Dragunov],” Gunther said on a recent episode of the “Busted Open Radio” podcast. “Several guys make it click and bring it out of me a bit differently than others. But Sheamus in WWE was like, okay, that’s the match you need to go first because he is that guy who does not care! He just loves to lay all of this inside him and feel it. And as long as that is put in the right places, there’s no problem with that.”
Gunther and Sheamus have faced off in one-on-one fashion three times in the WWE when Gunther was Intercontinental Champion, first at Clash at the Castle in 2022; again on Smackdown in October of the same year and once more in 2024 during the King of the Ring tournament. According to Sheamus, there will be no fourth match added to the two’s rivalry on account of what Sheamus considered cheating on Gunther’s part, although now that Gunther has the coveted WWE Heavyweight Championship, he may be convinced to change his tune.
“There aint gonna be no quadrilogy so 3-0 is the final tally,” Sheamus said on his Twitter/X account. “I am done. Some will argue he tapped, he used a weapon, he had outside interference.. ok! give him bragging rights, I fought fair & with honour. Those who cheat to win are only fooling themselves & the dim witted.”
Gunther’s relationship with Ilya Dragunov goes back to the two’s days in NXT, where the two were both rivals and had a mentor/protege relationship. “I kind of helped him out a little bit too because even though I was ahead a little bit [in my career], we still wrestled against each other, so [Dragunov] was sort of like a protege too. So it’s a different dynamic that we have with that one.”
What do you think of the two opponents who bring out the best in Gunther? Are there any other potential opponents in the WWE who you think could challenge Gunther in a similar way? Let us know in the comments.
