Welcome to another eWrestlingNews.com Question of the Day!
Judging by his absence from television and recent reports that he was supposed to be facing the injured Rey Mysterio, it’s starting to look like GUNTHER might be skipping out on WrestleMania 42 this year, with WWE not having anything in mind for him.
After the year he’s had, you’d think he would be a priority for The Grandest Stage of Them All, but that may not be so.
My question for you today is “What would you do with GUNTHER to put him on the card, or do you think this is the right call?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
As far as my answer…
First off, I think WWE’s booked themselves into a bit of a corner with his gimmick having back-to-back retirement angles. It makes it seem like he’s only going to show up to retire people for big matches and not fight for any championships or do anything else, and that is not sustainable.
WWE should try to get fans out of that mentality by giving him a normal feud without someone’s career being on the line — especially if their plan was a match against Rey Mysterio, particularly as I don’t think that would have been for the belt. I still think that would have been for Rey’s mask, which still wouldn’t be the direction I would have gone for GUNTHER even if Rey was in tip top shape.
Frankly, I don’t think there is anyone on the roster right now who isn’t otherwise accounted for that I would be able to justifiably put GUNTHER into a rushed feud with and make it seem worthwhile to be on the card. That’s the situation WWE has put themselves in, and I’m baffled by how they tend to do things like this every year around WrestleMania, despite having a full team of writers and many months to plan things out.
With all that being said, despite me saying they should go away from the retirement idea, I would be pitching a retirement match to legends who might be able to step in the ring for one more go-around, to see if anyone would be interested and able to lose to GUNTHER. It’s the simplest, easiest, no-build type of scenario — the only thing WWE can do with such little time — and it would make for a moment even if the match is bad.
Would Rob Van Dam be able to fill this role? What about Ken Shamrock? Is this something Mark Henry would be interested in doing?
That might be asking a lot, and if there aren’t any viable options, I would break out the emergency backup plan of the “segment, no match” concept. GUNTHER could interrupt the Hall of Fame parade or come out to the ring to complain about how nobody wants to face him because they’re afraid of being embarrassed and losing their careers, blah blah, only for someone to fight with him. It would have to be a big enough name to make the moment worthwhile, and it would have to be a babyface, so that also limits the options. You can’t just put someone out there like The Undertaker or Shawn Michaels and tease a match that won’t happen without it coming across a bit desperate, but people would still pop for ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin giving The Ring General a stunner, for instance.
Worst case scenario, I’d give GUNTHER the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal win and have him say that this was his attempt to overshadow Andre’s name. Maybe then, WWE would actually care about who wins that trophy, which they haven’t done a single time in the match’s history.
What do I think will happen with GUNTHER, though? I’m expecting him to just not be on the card at all, and for WWE to learn nothing from this.
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!