When WWE announced that they would have champion versus champion matches at Crown Jewel to decide on the best of the best, the creme de la creme, the first-ever Crown Jewel Champions, it felt like a perfect opportunity to take two wrestlers and elevate them into a new echelon; “make” them, if you will.
Now sure, technically, no World Titles were on the line, and no one would be “diminished” by losing the match, even if good heels should bring it up early and often, but for a pair of wrestlers in Liv Morgan and Gunther, who are new to the World Title picture in meaningful ways, this was a chance to secure new wins over major talents and tell fans it's okay to buy into them as premier talents.
To Paul “Triple H” Levesque's credit, one of these situations did come to fruition, as he gave Morgan the rub over Nia Jax and didn't pull anything screwy with Tiffany Stratton. Morgan cried as she held the belt over her head, celerbrated WWE for believing in her, and may have turned babyface with a downright kind story about adopting a Saudi Arabian stray cat.
But Gunther? Well, he wasn't so lucky, getting rolled up by Rhodes after a Super Cody Cutter, only to bang the mat in frustration after the referee struck 1-2-3.
On paper, this move makes sense, as Rhodes is WWE's QB, their new John Cena, and the man who will headline WrestleMania 41 next spring, but in reality, the promotion had a perfect opportunity to get Gunther more over, get Rhodes more over, and just generally heighten the drama on both of their weekly main roster shows and simply let it all go away in favor of a few nice pictures for social media.
Gunther would have been a made man with a win over Cody Rhodes
Gunther is one of the more polarizing stars in the WWE Universe.
Some fans love him, believing he's the best pure wrestler in the promotion and the kind of talent who can elevate almost anyone he steps in the ring with to a near-five-star effort. And to others? Well, he's playing a stereotypical foreign heel who isn't a great promo but is incredibly protected by the promotion. Gunther's power style rarely makes another opponent look particularly strong, even if that's intentional, and it's hard to see him working without some sort of belt, as he's been either King of The Ring, IC Champion, or World Heavyweight Champion for all but a few months of his main roster run.
Had Gunther won the match against Rhodes, that perception might have changed.
Sure, Gunther has defeated plenty of former champions in WWE and has huge wins at big shows around the world, but he has now been defeated by Rhodes twice, at Crown Jewel and the 2023 Royal Rumble, and as a result, looks like a clear number two behind Rhodes, as opposed to the promotion's 1B. A win in this match would have shown that Gunther is as good as Rhodes on any given night and, as a result, would have not only made him all the more impressive as a champion and his eventual successor look even better, too.
Cody Rhodes could have become a sympathetic babyface again
While plenty of fans are happy with Rhodes' run as the WWE Champion, many have noted that something just feels off about his time on top, at least when compared to his time chasing Roman Reigns in the pursuit of “Finishing the Story.”
That missing piece? Sympathy, which Rhodes has in droves as the underdog babyface fighting against an entire Bloodline.
Fans felt for Rhodes, appreciated his hard work, and ultimately wanted to see him make his father proud in wrestling heaven, even if Reigns was beyond entertaining along the way. When he lost at WrestleMania 39, fans cried in the stands and as they walked to their cars, and when he was almost moved out of the main event of WrestleMania 40, they rallied to keep him on top with the “We Want Cody” movement and hashtag.
While losing to Gunther wouldn't have made Rhodes any less of a champion, it would have made him feel human and, as a result, could have been used in promos for the next six months to remind fans why this opportunity means so much to him. But now? Now Rhodes just remains WWE's unquestioned top guy, with everyone across the roster gunning to take him down a peg and prove he isn't everything he claims.
… you know, heel stuff.
Where a Rhodes loss would have made him worthy of being cheered on, showing he's human and has setbacks at times – you know, while still being champion – now Rhodes just looks like the senior starting quarterback who knows he's going to the NFL but still has to finish his spring classes to graduate. While most outside fans like that player for what they represent, most people don't like the entitled legacy jock who has everything handed to them, making him into even more of a heel regardless of how much money his tailored suit costs or how much he smugly says he did it for the fans.
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