10 Ways WWE Has Shot Itself In The Foot In 2026
6. Gunther’s Career Killer Gimmick
Within the space of roughly a month, Gunther retired two of WWE's most popular veterans. He had John Cena's final ever match at Saturday Night's Main Event and then went on to end AJ Styles' career at the Royal Rumble. This was some serious heat, but it begged an interesting question - what next?
Gunther made this a huge part of his gimmick, dubbing himself the 'Career Killer'. Unfortunately, WWE had set the bar way too high. Anything other than another match against a legend would feel like a massive downgrade.
The original idea was to have Der Ring General face Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania 42, presumably with the luchador's career on the line. Mysterio was supposedly injured, which forced plans to change. Although, Rey was on the Mania card, so maybe he just didn't want to do the job.
The match we got instead was Gunther vs. Seth Rollins, which felt out of place and unbefitting of the former's new character. Gunther is currently in a world title programme with Cody Rhodes, so maybe his career-killing days are behind him. If so, then why did we bother with Cena and Styles in the first place?