Though he only joined the WWE main roster in 2022, Gunther has already established himself as one of the most dominant Royal Rumble performers of all time.

In his first and to this point only appearance in the premier battle royal in all of Sports Entertainment, Gunther entered the contest first and lasted longer than any other performer up to that point, coming one elimination away from winning the match and forever igniting a feud with the “American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes that will all but certainly be returned to at some point in the future.

Taking the ring after a few weeks off for paternity leave, Gunther addressed the WWE Universe for the first time in 2024 and let it be known that despite being the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion in WWE history, he wants to add WrestleMania 40 headliner to his resume.

“We are two weeks away from the Royal Rumble, and I can literally feel the desperation around this place. I can literally smell the desperation around here, and since we're in Arkansas, I think I can smell excrement, too,”  Gunther told the WWE Universe on RAW.

“When I was away and I was observing what unfolded the last few weeks, all I saw was my fellow Superstars coming out here every week and argue desperately about who's going to win the Royal Rumble? Who's going to win WrestleMana? So I had to come here and remind everybody about one thing. Last year, I entered the Royal Rumble as number one and made it all the way to the end. I was one elimination away from winning the Royal Rumble. I lasted longer in the Royal Rumble match than any man in history before, so this year, the ‘Ring General,' the longest-reigning Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion of all time is going to win the Royal Rumble and main event WrestleMania.”

Would it be surprising to see someone like Gunther, who already has a championship and will be featured prominently at WrestleMania 40 if he retains his title for the next few months regardless, win the Royal Rumble and either headline the show with his belt or shoot for another title, likely the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, to become a double champion? Well, considering how angry the WWE Universe became over Roman Reigns' dominance at the top of the card, it's worth wondering if there could be a concerted effort by some performers to band together and make sure Gunther doesn't leave Tampa Bay with another accolade on his resume.

Sheamus believes he and Gunther should have main evented Mania.

Speaking of Gunther's desire to headline WrestleMania and bring his hard-hitting style of in-ring work to the main event picture, Sheamus recently sat down for an interview with Virgin Media Sports Stories and let it be known that, in his opinion, his Intercontinental Championship match against the “Ring General” and Drew McIntyre should have headlined one of the nights of WrestleMania 39, as it turned out to be one of WWE's top matches of 2023.

“The IC Title. That's it. I want to main event WrestleMania too. I want to main event WrestleMania, that's another one,” Sheamus told Virgin Media Sports Stories via Fightful. “The IC Title and main event WrestleMania are the two things I want to do. I should have main evented WrestleMania (39). It should have gone on last. It stole the show at WrestleMania. Nothing came close, match-wise, the match me, Gunther, and Drew had. I knew that was always going to be the case. I was so close (to winning the IC Title) at Mania, and it just got taken away from me.”

Was the three-way match for the Intercontinental Championship worthy of headlining WrestleMania 39? Wrestling-wise, yes, the match delivered an effort that was unlike anything else on the stacked card and had fans in SoFi Stadium on the edge of their seats for the entirety of the contest. But in WWE, more so than any other wrestling promotion in the world, storyline trumps all, and it's hard to imagine a world where Gunther's match would headline over either of the actual top matches on the card, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn versus The Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships or Cody Rhodes versus Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. If Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair were bumped from the main event in order to give space for Sami, Kevin, Jimmy, and Jey, it's impossible to see a world where the IC Title headlines WrestleMania… unless, of course, Gunther wins the Royal Rumble, then all bets are off.