A WWE executive pitched for Gunther to lose to Pat McAfee at Backlash in 2025.
The night after WrestleMania 41 on Raw, Gunther attacked Michael Cole for being “disrespectful” about him on commentary after he lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Jey Uso. McAfee came to the defence of Cole, only to be choked out by the Austrian star. This led McAfee to challenge him to a match at Backlash.
On the night, Gunther took control for most of the bout, and although McAfee got a few shots in, he was no match for The Ring General. However, things could have gone a different way if Triple H had followed through with an idea from WWE Executive Director Bruce Prichard.
On the latest season of WWE: Unreal, footage from the Backlash writers’ room revealed that Prichard thought it was too predictable for Gunther to get the win.
“It’s predictable to go out and just have the match and have Gunther beat him and be done with it.”
Triple H appeared to consider the idea, saying that if they did go that route, the star would need to get back on track after a loss.
“If we go down that road of, McAfee catches the quick win, Gunther’s gotta be on a tear after that.”
In the end, though, the company’s VP of Creative Writing, Jonathan Baeckstrom made the point that Gunther had only recently said he had renewed his focus, so losing to a commentator wouldn’t make sense for him.
“I don’t know why Pat McAfee’s beating Gunther…James Bond wins at the end of every James Bond movie because that’s what you pay to see. It’s the right ending for the story.
“Gunther just said, ‘I’m more focused than ever,’ and now he’s going to lose to our color commentator? And then he’s going to have to go up to the ring the next week, and Pat’s going to be sitting ten feet to his left. And it’s going to be like, ‘Yeah, I got my ass whipped, but I beat him.’”
Gunther Looking To End Another WWE Career At Royal Rumble 2026
On December 13th, Gunther defeated John Cena in the 17-time World Champion’s final match. Now, he wants to repeat the feat when he faces AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble. The match was made on the January 19th edition of Raw after Styles accepted the demand that he put his career on the line to get a rematch against The Ring General. Styles has already said he plans to retire in 2026, and at the Royal Rumble, it looks like his last match could come sooner than anyone expected.
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the above transcription.
