10 Wrestlers That NOBODY Hated
8. GUNTHER
GUNTHER is the heel version of Kenta Kobashi.
Both men achieve what should be the impossible with their seminal in-ring game: perfect balance. Where Kobashi was a giant of a man who could nonetheless fight and fight from underneath and convince you that he was in agony, up against some insurmountable task, GUNTHER is exceptional at the control period.
His is the hardest role to execute. As a sort of latter-day workrate André the Giant, he was the territory's final boss in the European indie scene of the late 2010s. Losing to him was an inevitability; the best one could hope for was a dignified loss, perhaps at a push a career-making moment.
TrIple H isn't a bold booker, but then, he doesn't have to be. He's very good at doing the simple things well, and he installed GUNTHER as a super-credible warlord who simply doesn't lose. GUNTHER has to pace his matches very carefully. He can't dent his aura too much, but he needs to create at least one moment of doubt in every match to keep fans on the hook throughout what is a very, very long reign.
An anti-cringe wrestler, GUNTHER can make you wince, lick your lips at the taste of blood, and clutch your own chest as if you yourself have been chopped.
A disciplined, slow-burn, believable wrestler who can work Match of the Year candidates with next to zero excess: GUNTHER is "how it used to be", but the romanticised version made flesh.