WWE Is Failing Gunther as World Heavyweight Champion

Gunther has no doubt been one of WWE's best booked call-ups from NXT since debuting in the spring of 2022.

Even prior to that point, he was consistently treated like a final boss-level threat during his lengthy runs on the NXT UK and NXT brands. Under the Triple H regime in particular, a world title win for The Ring General was always inevitable.

He finally captured the prestigious prize at SummerSlam 2024 and has enjoyed a solid, four-month-plus reign on Raw. Despite there not being anything drastically different about his presentation or booking compared to a year ago, he doesn't feel nearly as special as he should.

The World Heavyweight Championship itself also isn't quite as coveted as it once was. What should be a top title is often overshadowed by several other stories happening on the red brand at any given time.

Gunther and the title are by no means being "buried" or "ruined"—two cliché terms a certain segment of fans don't hesitate to use in regards to wrestlers not being properly utilized—but there is a bigger issue he's currently facing that WWE brass must soon recognize and rectify before it's too late.

Raw long suffered from not having a top title for its roster due to the unification of the WWE Championship and the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 38 and the Undisputed champ's part-time schedule.

Triple H thankfully fixed that problem with introduction of the World Heavyweight Championship in the spring of 2023. During their respective reigns over the next year and a half, Seth Rollins and Damian Priest served as the face of the flagship show and saw their storylines take center stage.

That hasn't been the case with Gunther so far, though.

His recent rivalries with Randy Orton, Sami Zayn, Cody Rhodes and now Priest have taken a backseat to other angles on the red brand including CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre, Rollins vs. Bronson Reed, Rhea Ripley vs. Liv Morgan, Priest vs. Bálor and the build to the men's and women's WarGames matches at Survivor Series.

The world heavyweight title should not be on the same level as the Intercontinental Championship the way it has been for the second half of 2024.

Interestingly, Gunther was more of a focal point on Raw while intercontinental champ and headlined more episodes with that belt than he has with the World Heavyweight Championship.

That does damage to both Gunther's mystique and the title's credibility.

It was never realistic for Gunther to go undefeated forever, and WWE has done an exceptional job of protecting him in the past five years.

Between 2019 and 2022, he was only beaten four times: once by Drew McIntyre in a Survivor Series elimination tag team match, once by Bron Breakker and twice by Ilja Dragunov—once in a tag match and again one-on-one for the NXT UK Championship.

After joining SmackDown in 2022, the Austrian didn't suffer a single pinfall or submission loss until losing the Intercontinental Championship to Sami Zayn at WrestleMania 40.

Fans can quibble about whether Zayn was the right person to dethrone The Ring General, but it was the right time for Gunther to lose. His mystique hardly suffered from that setback, but his later loss to Cody Rhodes for the first-ever men's Crown Jewel Championship wasn't as necessary.

The two fought for a title that won't be seen again for another year, and Gunther's decisive defeat to Rhodes solidified the undisputed WWE champion's superiority over him.

That factored into The Ring General's subsequent storyline with Damian Priest where The Archer of Infamy played up Gunther losing a lot of his aura and showing more vulnerability.

Evidently, he wasn't wrong. Rather, Priest purely pointed out the obvious, and since then, little effort has been put into making Gunther the one-man wrecking machine he previously portrayed.

From a storyline standpoint, it was fine for Priest to acknowledge Gunther's weaknesses in order to feel more like a threat to his title heading into their Survivor Series clash.

Had it not been for Finn Bálor's betrayal, The Archer of Infamy would have likely left SummerSlam still the world heavyweight champion. In their rematch, Gunther needed to prove he could win on his own—and he failed.

Bálor getting involved yet again actually reinforced the opposite: Gunther can't retain his title without help.

Although The Ring General was flanked by Imperium his entire time as intercontinental champion, it was rare Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci attempted to interfere. Gunther had more credibility as a heel than most because he was dominant and didn't rely on underhanded tactics to win his matches.

WWE has oddly moved away from that part of his presentation, causing him to feel no different to any other ordinary world champ.

The first step toward correcting course with Gunther is ensuring he wins clean against Bálor and Priest at Saturday Night's Main Event before moving on to other challengers.

Gunther's reign as world heavyweight champion has seemingly existed in its own sub-universe of Raw, and not necessarily in a good way. This has contributed to the issue of him constantly being overlooked and devalued ever so slightly.

As noted, the Austrian has had successful title defenses against Randy Orton, Sami Zayn and Damian Priest since SummerSlam. Those three matches ranged from good to great, but they're all opponents he had already faced.

In WWE's defense, each of those repeat rivalries had a story attached to them: Gunther's win over Orton at King and Queen of the Ring was tainted, he wanted to avenge his loss to Zayn from WrestleMania 40, and Priest wanted a rematch after Bálor cost him the belt at SummerSlam.

Raw's biggest stars—CM Punk, Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre—have been too busy with each other to focus on what should matter most on Raw. Moreover, their respective stories have been more important than anything relating to the title.

While world heavyweight champ, Gunther won't be looked at as the guy on Monday nights until he's feuding with one of those notable names. That should happen as soon as Raw's Netflix premiere on January 6, provided he's still in possession of the prize after Saturday Night's Main Event.

By December, it typically becomes clear what WWE's plans are for the marquee matches at WrestleMania, specifically those involving world titles.

If Cody Rhodes vs. The Rock for the Undisputed WWE Championship isn't in the cards as a result of the latter's unpredictable schedule, The American Nightmare has plenty of other opponents he can defend against. The same can't be said for Gunther.

The aforementioned feuds with CM Punk and Seth Rollins will almost assuredly not be happening at WrestleMania 41. Those two are on a collision course of their own, regardless of whether a world title is on the line.

Gunther and McIntyre are both heels at the moment and have already had their fair share of battles. Zayn would have been a nice rivalry to revisit for WrestleMania 41 season had WWE not already done so in the fall.

That doesn't leave too many options beyond potentially John Cena and Goldberg. The WWE icon could chase his record-setting 17th world title at 'Mania, and The Ring General's heated altercation with Goldberg at Bad Blood was definitely done to plant the seeds for a future matchup.

There has been subtle tension teased between Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser, but that wouldn't be a WrestleMania-worthy encounter for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Gunther's lack of long-term direction isn't an encouraging sign for the remainder of his run on top.

There are minor changes WWE can make with Gunther to repair these problems over time, but a quick fix would be to have him swap shows with undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes and send him and the World Heavyweight Championship to SmackDown as part of the pending talent exchange.

This was hinted at on the Dec. 6 edition of the blue brand when Gunther was shown meeting with SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis backstage. Likewise, Rhodes made a quick cameo on the following Monday, walking out of Raw GM Adam Pearce's office.

Of course, it would depend who winds up where in this pseudo-draft, but Gunther would have a fresh batch of opponents to work with on Friday nights between LA Knight, Roman Reigns, Andrade and others.

Ultimately, a move to SmackDown is not needed. WWE shifting Gunther to what will quickly be established as the B-show would merely mask its inability to book him as a main event-caliber competitor.

In addition to remaining on Raw, The Ring General should be prioritized on the Road to WrestleMania, culminating in a high-profile match—ideally for the Big Gold Belt—at The Showcase of the Immortals.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.