Gunther opens up about quitting professional wrestling while still working a day job: ‘It affected him a lot’

Gunther has had a stellar run in WWE. “The Ring General” set records for the longest reign as Intercontinental Champion and the longest time in a Royal Rumble match, became King of the Ring and challenged for the World Heavyweight Title at SummerSlam. He achieved all of this in a 28-month main roster run.

Gunther’s dominance in professional wrestling’s marquee promotions is rare, but he wasn’t always able to outrun the competition so easily. Gunther, 36, will be completing two decades as a professional wrestler next year. Halfway through that run – around 2013 or 2014 – Gunther found himself at a crossroads that nearly wiped out the legacy he would later build.

“I worked night shifts and wrestled on weekends for about three years. It took a toll on me and it was too much to bear,” Gunther told CBS Sports. “My goal was always to make a living from professional wrestling. That wasn’t likely to happen, so I thought I should quit and focus on my real job.

“I spoke with [Westside Xtreme Wrestling] And said, ‘Either I run a wrestling school for you and that’s my job, or I think I’ll quit.’ They were happy to do that. They wanted to open a wrestling school. They hired me and since then, professional wrestling has become my main profession.”

Gunther, who was primarily known as Walter at the time, became synonymous with the German promotion. He became one of Europe’s premier wrestlers, a reputation that caught WWE’s attention when the promotion launched NXT UK in 2016. WWE has emphasized its global reach in recent years, often traveling around the world to produce its monthly pay-per-view events, which the company calls premium live events. One of those events is the inaugural Bash event in Berlin on Aug. 31, which is the first WWE PPV in Germany.

Only the concerned parties know if Gunther will defeat Damian Priest to become World Heavyweight Champion at SummerSlam on August 3, but most expect Gunther to make a significant appearance in Berlin. The bash in Berlin will be a seven or eight-hour drive from Gunther’s birthplace of Vienna, Austria.

Gunther remembers wrestling in small venues in Germany. It is unrealistic to think that Gunther, who learned wrestling in the nightclubs of Berlin, could enter the 17,000 capacity Uber Arena as a world champion.

“When [Ludwig] Kaiser and I were in wXw, we were trying to commit to it and put everything else in life aside to make it big and make it move forward,” said Gunther. “We were doing 60 or 70 shows a month. After every show, the biggest thing was that we worked hard to make professional wrestling accessible again in Germany and create an atmosphere that people can enjoy and be entertained in a reliable way. Obviously I’m not the only reason this event is happening, but I would like to claim that me being in WWE right now is a factor in why they wanted to do PLE there. I think that’s a pretty cool accomplishment.”

If Gunther and his Imperium stablemate Kaiser had been told a decade ago that they would one day play a role in bringing WWE’s first PPV to Germany, they would have been skeptical.

“It was pretty surreal,” Gunther said. “The odds weren’t that great and they weren’t for most of my career because WWE wasn’t as open to the independent circuit as it has been. When they started signing people from the indies and being open to wrestling around the world, that changed a lot. It was a long journey to get here, so now I’m ready to enjoy it.”

Returning to his old home of Berlin as world champion would be a pivotal moment in Gunther’s career, but he’s not putting the cart before the horse. Gunther must first defeat reigning champion Priest, a superstar who is slowly dispelling the notion that he’s a transitional champion keeping the title warm.

“This would be the greatest achievement of my career,” Gunther said. “I think it’s pretty obvious. It’s the heavyweight champion of the world. It’s the biggest prize you can win in this sport. It would be a great achievement, but also a great responsibility and challenge. That’s what I’m here for. I want to be in the ring with the best and with all of them. To prove myself in this case.”