Unlike many fellow WWE Superstars, Gunther says the sports entertainment giant was never his ultimate goal.
Speaking on a recent episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, record-breaking Intercontinental Champion Gunther opened up about his journey in professional wrestling, saying that while wrestling itself was always his goal, he didn’t have his sights set on the world of WWE. He began by describing the European independent scene when he began training in 2005.
“Yeah, always, I was sure. In 2005 I had my first training right. And then a few years in whatever the wrestling scene in Europe and especially the German-speaking countries was still small, like nobody gave a damn about it. It wasn’t on free TV like in general, the public, you get looked at weirdly when you watch wrestling like most people didn’t even know what was going on. Like it wasn’t, it was not a topic in the mainstream entertainment world.”
According to the champion, it was unrealistic for Europeans at that time to make it in WWE, so he didn’t make that his ultimate goal.
“So all of that was so far away, it’s like, even like 10 years ago, if somebody from England I think like Sheamus and Drew [McIntyre] and Stu [Bennett] were like one of the first exceptions for Europeans to go there and actually make it or be somebody or Cesaro. And then for a long time, there was nothing and it was just something that is, well, that’s not realistic. So don’t aim for that.”
While WWE seemed out of reach for the Austrian star, Gunther made it clear that he always aimed to make a living in the world of professional wrestling.
“My goal was always I want to make a living of being a professional wrestler, that was always my goal. I want to make this my profession because I know something about it now. It’s like I have a passion for it and I don’t want to work a job that just bored the hell out of me. So I always wanted to make it a profession when I achieved that.
“That was already something unheard of. When I became a full-time wrestler and I had to be self-employed basically. And to every agency or every government body I had to go for whatever it was, pension, health insurance and all of that stuff I got looked at, yeah, like an alien like what are you what is your job? Because I think at that time, I was the only person in the whole of Germany who was a wrestler by profession. That was already like a big step and then everything else just fell into place over time, the indies changed big time.”
Gunther Says WWE Opened Its Doors After A Big Boom In Independent Wrestling
Continuing, Gunther explained that his aspirations changed when the world of independent wrestling went through a boom period prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There was, before COVID, there was such a big boom in the indie scene in England especially but all like in the States as well. And WWE decided to open the doors to the independent wrestling world and also to Europe. So that’s brought up a lot more possibilities, obviously. And then everything just fell into place.
“So yeah, it was never my big dream to go there. I think it was more passionate to wrestle All Japan once at some point, as like a big dream than being with WWE.”
Gunther is set to defend his Intercontinental Championship against The Miz at Survivor Series on November 25th.
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit Insight with Chris Van Vliet and link back to this article with a h/t to Inside the Ropes.