Exclusive Interview w/2-Time WWE Heavyweight Champ "The Ring General" Gunther | No-Contest Wrestling

Gunther is a guest TJ and O'Shea Jackson Jr. had wanted on No Contest Wrestling for a long time, and the Ring General delivered exactly the interview his reputation promised: no jokes, no fuss, and a worldview as rigid as one of his chops.

The timing was the Clash in Italy main event against Cody Rhodes, with the WWE Championship on the line. Gunther framed it as settling a score. There is real history with Rhodes, dating back to a Royal Rumble where Gunther entered first, broke the longevity record, and nearly went the distance before Rhodes conveniently strolled out at number 30 to eliminate him. Rhodes got him the next year too, and there was a loss in Saudi Arabia. Now, on European turf near his native Austria, Gunther wants the record straight. He insisted the crowd ultimately does not matter, a match is a match, but he relishes the different atmosphere Europe brings and sees himself as a role model proving a European can immigrate to the States and reach the top without following the usual path.

The philosophy underneath everything is that the mat is sacred. Gunther lamented that wrestling has drifted toward spectacle, away from what happens after the bell. The number one goal, he said, is to become as good as you possibly can and chase the championship, not fame or money. He accused some colleagues of treating the business as a stepping stone after another career did not pan out, and he does not hide his contempt for it. It is why he wipes his feet before entering the ring, a small tradition from his first training session that he keeps out of respect, and why he laid into the recruits on LFG without softening a thing. Earn your spot, he said, or choose a different profession.

That brings up the role that made him must-see: the destroyer of heroes. Gunther has retired Goldberg, John Cena, and AJ Styles, and he pursued every one of those opportunities precisely because he enjoys riling people up. He has zero interest in being liked. The Cena night, he admitted, felt heavier than WrestleMania, with Rhodes nearby squeezing out a tear, and Gunther stood in the middle of it as the emotional stone he is, knowing he was about to ruin everyone's evening. He called it maybe the most rewarding feeling of his career. The Raw afterward, taunting the crowd with a "you can't see me," and the parking-lot jab at AJ Styles were pure enjoyment. There is even a German word for it, he noted, Schadenfreude, taking pleasure in others' misfortune, and it is right down his alley.

His biggest claim is the one he believes haunts future opponents: he made Cena give up. Cena had something left, Gunther said, but chose to tap, and forcing the most willful wrestler ever to make that decision is an achievement no one else can put on a résumé. He prizes long title reigns for the same reason, citing his 666-day Intercontinental run. Beating him after a short reign means little; doing it after a long one means everything, because so many tried and failed. He traced that mentality to the empty-arena NXT UK matches with Ilja Dragunov during the pandemic, a challenge he turned into an advantage and remains thankful for.

There were lighter glimpses. He named his influences as European and Japanese wrestlers like Kenta Kobashi, Stan Hansen, and Terry Gordy, plus early rivals like Zack Sabre Jr. and mentors like Timothy Thatcher and Ludwig Kaiser. He took the Undertaker calling him a favorite as a meaningful confirmation. For a dream WrestleMania slate, he picked Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, Shawn Michaels, Daniel Bryan, and the Undertaker. And he answered the show's bar-brawl question by first noting he would avoid that situation entirely, before drafting Dragunov and a few heavyweights to get him to the car.

The sharpest moment came when the hosts played Rhodes's message wishing him a fun media tour. Gunther smiled at the bait. Rhodes, he said, finds a way to insert his face into someone else's 30-minute window, which proves the attention-seeking point. Gunther conceded he is only sitting there because of the title match, but drew the distinction cleanly: if he were not, he would happily be living his life, the way he had just spent the day with his wife in Cambridge drinking coffee, while Rhodes, off the rounds, would be home worrying he was not getting attention. His recognition, Gunther promised, arrives when the bell rings, when he becomes the new undisputed champion.