5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (June 10)

3. Gunther Becomes IC Champ

Gunther Ludwig Kaiser WWE Intercontinental Title
WWE

No offence intended to Ricochet, but he was always going to be a temporary Intercontinental Champion. That became clear almost from the moment he won the belt this past March. 98 days later, he's staring at the lights for Vince McMahon's next pet project on SmackDown.

Credit to Rico for making Gunther look like the strongest dude around.

Could these guys do better with more time? No doubt, but they produced something worth going out of your way to watch on Friday night and pushed the IC strap onto someone genuinely fresh. Now, WWE's next goal should be booking Gunther properly as champ.

He'll need top opponents to work with. Yes, that means main event-level stars like Drew McIntyre have to come calling for his prize. Why not? Gunther's credibility is through the roof right now, and he'd become an even bigger deal if he exclusively battled the best from here on out.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.