Why WWE Didn’t Book GUNTHER For Payback

GUNTHER is one of the most dominate WWE Superstars going today. This is very apparent as he is set to break Honky Tonk Man’s record for longest IC Title reign. Interestingly enough, the company didn’t consider GUNTHER for Payback.

Click here for our complete coverage of WWE Payback.

Sean Sapp noted behind Fightful’s paywall that WWE never considered to book GUNTHER vs Chad Gable at Payback. The reason for that decision came down to booking.

We’re told that GUNTHER vs. Chad Gable happening on WWE Raw served to keep the WWE Payback runtime in order, get GUNTHER closer to the IC Title record with the threat of breaking it, and to highlight the match more than it would have been on a PLE.

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WWE has been very particular over the last year of making sure that many of the WWE PLE event runtimes don’t “overstay their welcome,” especially ones that aren’t larger stadium shows. This has caused many matches that would have previously been on PLE events to end up on WWE Raw. 

It was also noted that, “a WWE source claimed that Honky Tonk Man was never really considered for the Memphis WWE Raw, or GUNTHER chopping the sh*t out of him last week.”

GUNTHER has a lot more that he can accomplish in WWE, and he’s just getting started. Only time will tell what tile picture we are talking about for him this time next year.

We will keep a close eye on this story, and so many more, right here at Ringside News. Also, leave those comments below to let us know what you think!