Everywhere Gunther has gone in professional wrestling, he's made himself into a featured player; he was a star in wXw, a dominant force in Progress, a star in PWG, and the near-unbeatable force in NXT UK, where he held the belt a month short of 900 days before dropping the strap to Ilja Dragunov to take his talents stateside. So really, is it surprising when Gunther entered the championship picture on the main roster too, going so far as to take the title with him from SmackDown to RAW after over a year atop the Blue Brand, right?

Discussing Gunther's run in conversation with Comic Book Nation, The Miz noted that, in his opinion, Gunther has elevated the Intercontinental Championship considerably, and deserves to be in the main event picture when his historic run eventually comes to an end.

“I think he’s doing with the Intercontinental Championship what exactly he should be doing with it, and that is making it relevant, making it prestigious, being involved in meaningful storylines, and making it mean something. He is at a level now where if he dropped the title, he’s in a mix for a WWE Championship, and that’s what I always felt that title was supposed to be, not necessarily a stepping stone, but it was a title that builds you and builds you until you’re almost level with the World Heavyweight Championship, The Miz said via Fightful. “Once that title is dropped, or you can even go and have two titles, the World Title, and the Intercontinental. So I think he’s doing a great job. Who will unseat him? You’ve got Drew McIntyre going for it, he’s a very viable person. I remember back in the pandemic era, he was unstoppable in a WWE ring, except for me. I beat him for the WWE Championship, second reign. But who’s counting?”

As crazy as it may sound, the day will eventually come when Gunther is no longer the Intercontinental Champion, as one way or another, his reign has to come to an end by hook or by crook. When that day eventually comes, don't be surprised if Gunther transitions his current success into an even bigger opportunity, as Imperium has proven to the WWE Universe that they deserve to be at the top of the card regardless of how  Paul “Triple H” Levesque decides to formulate the title picture.

Gunther is just going to give Drew McIntyre his Intercontinental Championship.

While The Miz is more or less correct that when Gunther hangs up his strap he'll likely turn his attention to the main event picture, as he's earned a shot at darn near any belt he pleases in WWE's war chest, for that day to come, the “Ring General” first has to lose a match to someone like Drew McIntyre, who appears to be his next challenger.

Sitting down for an interview with Contralona, Gunther noted that while he respects McIntyre, he isn't backing down from the challenge.

“I guess the direction we are heading in is quite obvious. On RAW there's a face-to-face announced, so we'll see what happens there and how we go one from there. Does Drew deserves a shot? Yes, I think so because his track record of his career is very impressive, I have to say that, he was the top guy of the company, he beat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, but is a sad detail that it happens in front of nobody because of COVID and I think Drew is re-chasing that moment a little bit that he feels like he missed out back then and I guess he wants to achieve that on my expense, that my guess where his motivation comes from in this moment. Also, the fact that I raised the level of the Intercontinental Championship to a degree where somebody like Drew McIntyre says: ‘Ok, that's something for me to go after, that's worth my energy, that's worth my attention,'” Gunther.

“As a wrestler I think he deserves it, as a person I don't think he is focused on the important things, for me it feels more like his mission is more emotion-driven and out of personal feelings that things that happened in his career should have been on different ways, if that makes any sense”

Could McIntyre be the man who unseats Gunther as the IC Champion? Maybe yes, maybe no, but either way, it probably won't happen at SummerSlam, because Gunther needs to keep the title until September to surpass the Honky Tonk Man to become the longest-tenured title holder since its inception in 1979.