Gunther has credited a WWE Hall of Famer for their longevity in the business.
Now the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion in company history, The Ring General is in discussion for the greatest holder of the title. As such, multiple interviewers have asked the leader of Imperium for his thoughts on other notable names who have held the prestigious title in the past.
Although Gunther was less than complimentary with his comments towards WWE Hall of Famer The Ultimate Warrior, another former champion who is now a part of AEW received a lot more praise.
While speaking to Wrestling News.co, the Intercontinental Champion was asked about his thoughts on Jeff Jarrett. The leader of Imperium credited Jarrett with still being in a prominent position at another promotion and still going strong more than 30 years later:
“I got to meet him a few times I think he’s one of the smartest guys in the sport because we have 2023 and he’s still in a very good position at another company and I think having a career that long and being in all kinds of positions this business has to offer. Yeah, congratulations to that career. He really figured it out.”
Jarrett won the Intercontinental Championship on 6 separate occasions. The first reign came at the 1995 Royal Rumble, where the Hall of Famer defeated Razor Ramon to capture the gold for the first time.
Arguably, Jarrett’s most famous reign with the title would be his last in 1999, in particular the manner in which he lost the title. At No Mercy 1999, the Hall of Famer would lose the championship in a Good Housekeeping match to Chyna, making the 9th Wonder of the World the first female to win the championship.
As this was Jarrett’s final match before he departed WWE in 1999, the story behind the match is that Jarrett held up Vince McMahon for $300,000 or else he wouldn’t drop the title, with there being a further rumour that this was masterminded by Vicne Russo.
Jarrett set the record straight regarding the events that took place behind the scenes on his podcast My World:
“I’ve said it multiple times on the pod. I didn’t want to leave, contrary to what everybody believes that Jeff held Vince up on the Chyna match and he got his money. No, I didn’t really want to leave, but I knew if I was leaving, I didn’t want to put my pay off and my financial in their hands after I’m working for the opposition. That’s just dumb business, so I wanted to clean everything up that night. What’s fair’s, fair? I got my money, Vince got his championship, and we were both very happy that night.”
Gunther Not Expected To Main Event WrestleMania:
With WrestleMania now being a 2-night event, it is virtually a lock that Roman Reigns defending the Undisputed Championship will close out the weekend. However, the main event of night one is still not apparent to fans and won’t be for a number of months. During the same interview, the Intercontinental Champion made it very clear that he will not be the main event of WrestleMania Saturday.
In the same interview, Gunther revealed how at one point he despised WWE.