50 Things You Learn Binge-Watching Every WWE Royal Rumble
4. WWE Nearly Babyfaced GUNTHER In 2023
Now this is something.
GUNTHER entered as #1 in 2023 and worked tirelessly for a staggering 1:11:40 before being tossed out by returning hero Cody Rhodes. That comeback was advertised before the PLE, which pretty much told fans Cody was winning. Looking back at it, WWE were running the risk of making Rhodes look like more of an elitist (ahem) heel in this situation than anyone realised at the time. It wouldn’t have been out of the question for fans to rally behind GUNTHER given his exhausting run in the match.
Triple H is lucky that the Imperium man is such a strong villain. If they tried repeating this in 2025 now that GUNTHER has become established on the main roster as someone who delivers high quality every single time he walks to the ring, then there's a fair chance people would start to organically babyface him. They almost did that in 2023, and it's a gripping realisation mid-binge.
San Antonio easily could've respected GUNTHER's monumental effort throughout the match and started cheering for him. Then, when Cody launched his heroic post-pec tear comeback as #30, WWE would've had to work overtime to avoid some sort of accidental double turn. It's a good thing that didn't happen, of course, but the potential was there for things to turn sour on CodyMania.
Smartly, WWE picked out GUNTHER's eliminations carefully. He tossed out Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, Booker T, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods during his 'Iron Man' performance. They were all big enough babyfaces or legends to keep him heel.