Vince McMahon "Didn't Know Who This WWE Star Was"
This current WWE champ said hello to Vince McMahon backstage; the then-boss was clueless.
Vince McMahon reportedly had no clue who GUNTHER was when he first met the man.
Ex-WWE star Road Dogg revealed, via his podcast, that the former boss was totally baffled when current Intercontinental Champ GUNTHER strolled up to him for a handshake. Back then, GUNTHER was WALTER, and had become a staple of WWE's NXT UK brand.
Apparently, Vinnie Mac didn't watch it. McMahon obviously knew the name WALTER because he'd read "social media reports" on the show and "read the emails about ratings" (Road Dogg's words), but he had no idea what the Austrian wrestler extraordinaire looked like.
To Vince, someone was just introducing himself for no real reason. So, he politely said hello and then moved on without even blinking. Roadie defended this on his pod by suggesting that McMahon didn't really need to know who WALTER was back then.
Reports have followed since Vince's retirement suggesting that he was ready to bury GUNTHER on screen over the summer. Triple H is high on the IC Champion though, so GUNTHER's credibility is safe for now. That's a relief, because he's been putting on banger after banger in-ring.