After the one-two-three punch of taking a loss to Matt Riddle, being chased off by Drew McIntyre, and then being challenged to a match against the dynamic, Jimmy's Famous Seafood-loving tag team on RAW, Gunther, Giovanni Vinci, and the rest of Imperium – aka just Ludwig Kaiser – weren't feeling too hot when Byron Saxton asked them for an interview for RAW TALK.

Still, ever the professionals, the faction obliged their coworker's request and ultimately addressed the challenge head-on.

“First of all, what happened tonight is Matt Riddle got lucky,” Vinci told Saxton. “He got a quick one on me, and I guarantee you, that will never, ever happen again. But on top of that, Drew McIntyre wants to stick his nose in our business, and they want to challenge Ludwig and I to a tag team match next week. But Imperium doesn’t back down, and next week, we will restore our honor. Consider the challenge-”

“I don’t wanna hear any of that. Next week, I want to see it,” Gunther said.

Whoa, is there some dysfunction in the faction? Could Gunther look to cut loose Vinci if he doesn't perform, or, worse yet, replace him with the “Unbesiegbar,” Ilja Dragunov? That, for better or worse, is unlikely; while it's long been rumored that Dragunov could team up with the performer who beat him for the NXT UK Championship back in 2021, this feels more like Gunther being genuinely worried about the prospects of wrestling a fresh “Scottish Warrior” after coming very close to losing his Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 39.

Wade Barrett believes Gunther is in a “really good position.”

Though Gunther wasn't a featured performer on the Money in the Bank card, working an early match against Matt Riddle that, while good, will be remembered more for Drew McIntyre returning after the second bell than anything that occurred between them, the “Ring General's” efforts still turned heads specifically with SmackDown color commentator Wade Barrett, who singled out the Intercontinental Champion as one of the most impressive performers in the company.

“Gunther is a complete phenom, to be honest with you. I think if he didn’t have the Intercontinental Championship, I think we’d already see him competing with the likes of Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns for the world championships, but I think he’s in the build still. I think he’s in a really good position. I just think that there’s not a single weakness to his game,” Barrett said via Fightful. “The most impressive thing for me is not the chops and the hard-hitting nature. They are great, and I enjoy that. It’s not the technical side of his game. He’s a massive guy, and it’s a lot harder to have the cardio ability in these kind of 25-30 minute matches when you’re a 250-pound-plus guy, versus when some of the guys who are 170-180 pounds. It’s a lot easier because you’re not carrying that weight around. Gunther, I think his cardio ability, more than anything else as a heavyweight really impresses me.”

Barrett then complemented Gunther for his efforts with the Intercontinental Championship, taking a belt he didn't exactly elevate to new heights as a near-400-day champion.

“Let me tell you, I had that championship five times, and the effect I had on the caliber of that championship, I sent it through the basement,” Barrett said. “So thankfully, prestige from Gunther, and when I tell people now, ‘Yeah, I’m a five-time Intercontinental Champion,’ they’re like, ‘Woah, woah, that Gunther guy, that makes it really special.’ So yeah, thank you, Gunther.”

With just 65 days needed to unseat the Honky Tonk Man as the longest Intercontinental Champion in WWF/WWE history, it's clear Gunther has been on a dominant run the likes of which fans don't typically see with the “Workman's Title.” While it feels incredibly likely that such a record will be cleared, as his pedigree makes much more sense in the record books than an Elvis impersonator with the name “Honky Tonk Man” – technically, his given name is Roy Wayne Farris – what will be on the table for the “Ring General” when that day comes in early September? Will Gunther drop the strap to someone like the ‘Scottish Warrior” and go for one of the World titles, be that the WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt or the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship? Or does Paul “Triple H” Levesque have something else in mind for his supersized Austrian grappler, be that factional warfare with a faction like The Judgment Day or even a face turn? Regardless, it's clear “Bad News” Barrett will be there for it, as he loves to see a European wrestler shine.