Though GUNTHER hasn't technically defended his Intercontinental Championship in over a month on WWE television, with his last broadcasted bout coming against Rey Mysterio on the final SmackDown before Halloween, the leader of Imperium won't have to wait too long to defend his strap, as he'll be wrestling none other than Ricochet in the not-too-distant future.
That's right, after running a convoluted brand synergistic tournament modeled after the FIFA World Cup called the SmackDown World Cup to decide on who will wrestle the pride of Vienna, Austria, next for the “Workman's Championship,” none other than Ricochet, the man GUNTHER took the belt from and then defeated in only his first defense of the SmackDown-based strap, will go toe-to-toe against “The Ring General” – or, more correctly, “Der Ringgeneral” – for the proverbial rubber match of the feud. Could WWE theoretically extend this out even further, giving fans GUNTHER-Ricochet IV: A New Hope, GUNTHER-Ricochet V: Imperium Strikes Back, and even GUNTHER-Ricochet VI: Return of Der Ringgeneral, at some point, the feud needs to either end or have enough parity to keep things interesting; otherwise, it will become a parody that is far from compatible with GUNTHER's overly formal style.
So how, you may wonder, is GUNTHER preparing for the make-or-break match of his feud with Ricochet? Fortunately, WWE put Cathy Kelley on the case to find out, and she almost certainly didn't expect the answer she received from the former NXT UK Champion.
“How am I gonna prepare?” GUNTHER asked. “I beat Ricochet twice, so that question should go to him. How is he going to prepare? I don’t have to prove anything, I carry this, the grand pre of this great sport. Ricochet, I think, is one of the most gifted athletes I’ve ever seen in my life, but the real difference-maker is, he’s got a weak character. He’s a little boy, and he’s full of himself. And he’s only in this for his own good. I am a man who is in for the greater good, for the honor of this great sport. I am the WWE Intercontinental Champion and to me, the mat is sacred.”
On paper, GUNTHER's take is dead-on; he's the champion, the champion gets the advantage, and even if Ricochet already bested another faction in Legado Del Fantasma when he wrestled Santos Escobar in the SmackDown World Cup Finale, he still has to account for Ludwig Kaiser, Giovanni Vicci, and probably even Braun Strowman for good measure too when the match finally gets underway. Fortunately, Paul “Triple H” Levesque appears to have strapped a rocket to King Riccochet's back Buzz Lightyear-style, and at this point, the only way for the former IC, US, and North American Champion to go is up.
Following tonight’s main event, @Gunther_AUT says that he has already defeated @KingRicochet twice, so The One and Only is the one who needs to prepare for him. #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/XqId7Xko9x
— WWE (@WWE) December 3, 2022
Ricochet believes WWE is finally respecting the mid-card belts.
Speaking of Ricochet, he was asked about how Levesque's new regime's treatment of championships differed from his predecessor by Steve Fall of NBC Sports Boston on the Ten Count Podcast, and he gave a very interesting answer.
“I think the presentation of championships have always been important to me,” Ricochet said h/t Skylar Russell and No DQ. “[From 1992-1999], it was all about the championships, you know what I mean? I think there will probably be more light on those, which will help viewers watch it a little better and understand [better]. It’s gonna be a great product that’s gonna be put out there, I think. Everyone’s in a new creative spirit and trying to think of new things, so it’s crazy to see everyone talk and think about new things. Maybe it’s just because everything is new and everything is changing, but I think the presentation is still gonna be WWE spectacle, this spectacular presentation, but I think it’s really gonna put some more focus on the championships and being a championship-driven like story. Whatever the stories are, we’ll lean more towards that rather than the cartoony character aspect of it.”
Fast forward a few months into the future, and for the most part – with one notable exception – Ricochet's assertion proved correct; WWE is booking their championship belts, especially the mid-card straps that aren't held by a member of The Bloodline and/or Bianca Belair, prominently on television each week, with a title bout booked for every 10 days or so split between RAW and SmackDown. While some may quibble with the hot potato nature of the United States Championship, especially when Theory is the one holding the strap, GUNTHER has been the model of consistency on SmackDown, even if Ricochet and/or Braun Strowman could soon change that in a hurry.
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