Gunther did not hold back when discussing his thoughts on a former Intercontinental Champion.
Currently holding the record for the longest singular reign of the title in company history and consistently putting on great matches when defending the gold, many credit The Ring General with bringing prestige back to “the workhorse championship.” As seen on WWE programming before Gunther’s record-breaking reign began, the IC title would be frequently forgotten about and was rarely defended on big shows.
While appearing on The Bump, the leader of Imperium was asked about his thoughts on former Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior. As host Megan Morant referred to The Warrior as “one of the best ever,” The Ring General gave his brutally honest thoughts:
“Those are the real dark ages. He’s a showman. He’s not an athlete, not a professional wrestler, he’s a showman. Now, everybody knows why I have to be the one to keep this title for the longest time in history to wash its reputation clean and set it to a new standard,”
The Ultimate Warrior held the title on 2 separate occasions. First winning the title at the first-ever SummerSlam in 1988, Warrior would bring to an end to the lengthy reign of The Honky Tonk Man, who previously held the record before being overtaken by Gunther. The match that brought the 453-day reign to an end lasted 31 seconds.
Warrior would lose the title at WrestleMania 5 to Rick Rude and would go on to win it back at SummerSlam 1989. The Hall of Famer would keep hold of the Intercontinental Championship going into the main event of WrestleMania 6, where he would defeat WWE Champion Hulk Hogan in a winner-takes-all match. Warrior would be forced to vacate the IC Title the next day as there was a rule at the time that stated that double champions were not allowed.
Gunther Fires Back At Another Hall of Famer
Multiple former Intercontinental Champions were referenced in The Ring General’s interview on The Bump. When the subject of Bret Hart was brought up, Gunther once again gave his honest thoughts on the former Intercontinental Champion following previous comments Hart had made.
In regards to the Intercontinental Championship being the main event of WrestleMania 40, the WWE star stated that it is not going to happen.
H/t to Fightful.