Gunther Blames Vince McMahon for Delay in WWE Main Roster Call-Up

Gunther’s reign as the WWE Intercontinental Champion which started in June 2022, was remarkable, making history as the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion ever. However, it appears he blames Vince McMahon for a delay in his main roster call-up.

The longest-reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion debuted at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool in January 2019 and went on to become the longest-reigning NXT UK Champion. Despite Triple H’s confidence in him, he didn’t make his main roster television debut until April 2022. He participated in Survivor Series 2019 as part of Team NXT, though he was the first to be eliminated.

During an interview with the Daily Mail, Gunther discussed why his transition from NXT UK to the main roster took so long. The Ring General blamed Vince McMahon for the delay as he had no intention of working on RAW or SmackDown as long as McMahon was in charge as he didn’t like McMahon’s vision.

“I think one of the reasons why I didn’t want to go to the US for a long time was because Raw and SmackDown under Vince’s vision at that time was something that was never appealing to me as a wrestler. It was just not what I was interested in.

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“‘I’m a throwback, and I like to have my time for my matches, and I like to have to focus on what I do in the ring, and not the bells and whistles around it. And that experience back then [at Survivor Series 2019] was almost a confirmation of that.”

Gunther also hasn’t lost hope for match with Brock Lesnar in the future. Regardless, Gunther is currently part of the King of The Ring tournament and will face Jey Uso in the semifinals next week, so we’ll have to see how he will fare in the bout.

Do you empathize with what Gunther had to say? Let us know in the comments section below!