The Forbidden Lore Of WWE’s Gunther
WALTER was incredibly shrewd throughout this period of his career. In May 2025, as Gunther, he mocked Logan Paul, smugly downplaying Logan’s worth by asking him for advice on how to build his social media profile - the implication being that Paul was only good for a bit of publicity. WALTER, however, was actually quite handy at that himself - literally. Before most people had even seen a WALTER match in full, they had probably seen a still image. WALTER’s strike of choice, and the lasting, devastating effect, often did the rounds on Twitter and Reddit.
The WALTER chop became legendary. The impact sounded like a shotgun; the mark he left behind a frequent viral sensation. There’s one image of Mark Davis, taken in the aftermath of PROGRESS Chapter 63, in which Mark’s chest looks like it has not been struck but rather sliced. Others capture the perfect moment, when WALTER’s hand is buried in the wobble of what looks like a burst pectoral muscle. The most frightening of all saw legendary masochist PCO’s chest blackened by the bruising. PCO’s chest, and this is not hyperbolic, resembled scorched earth.
WALTER did this in his matches to portray himself as the best, stiffest super-heavyweight in the game. He was not necessarily interested in reducing himself to a single move, but those post-match pictures were not taken by accident, either. The effect on his career and aura was transformative: WALTER, like his chops, became indelible. A simple strike for anybody else, in WALTER's case, was one of the best wrestling moves ever.
Of course, WALTER was not simply a chop “merchant”. He spammed them, for sure, but the very best wrestlers know when precisely to do something. The WALTER chop was almost invariably thrown at the perfect time. He’d blast his opponents into a flat-back bump when they had the temerity to fire back at him; he’d blow them away rapid-fire when he felt threatened, cornered; he’d distribute them methodically when taking sadistic glee during a period of control; he’d throw them, with less toxic force, when his arsenal of power moves had deserted him down the stretch.
The word “perfect” applies to WALTER generally - his ability, his career path, and the timing of it. By 2018, the international wrestling scene was swarming with the AJ Styles clone: the leaner, tights-clad super-worker who could execute athletically exhilarating aerial moves and sustain a breathless pace across an epic, lengthy main event match. This specific genre of brilliance had been normalised - and, in June, by Kenny Omega, perfected.
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