In short
Podcast Summary: "What Do You Wanna Talk About? - Gunther"
Episode Overview In this episode, Gunther, a prominent WWE wrestler, is interviewed by Cody Rhodes. They discuss Gunther's recent achievements, including retiring John Cena, his background, his aspirations within WWE, and his thoughts on the wrestling industry. The conversation highlights Gunther's journey, his professional philosophy, and his reflections on wrestling culture and dynamics.
Key Themes and Discussions
Gunther's Career Highlights
- Retiring John Cena: Gunther discusses the significance of defeating Cena, reflecting on the emotional atmosphere backstage and the intensity of the moment, which he felt was even larger than WrestleMania.
- Wrestling Background: He shares his roots in wrestling, including his introduction to it in Vienna through VHS tapes and local tournaments. Gunther mentions being inspired by Japanese wrestling, particularly the work of Stan Hansen.
Personal Philosophy
- Professionalism in Wrestling: Gunther expresses his belief in the importance of responsibility and rising to challenges within his career. He values milestones that test his abilities and push him to grow.
- Style and Persona: He discusses how he prefers a more understated style, both in fashion and wrestling, emphasizing substance over flashiness.
Thoughts on the Industry
- Evolution of WWE: Gunther reflects on the changes in WWE, noting the diversity in the roster and the shift towards recognizing talent from outside the traditional circuits.
- Intergenerational Dynamics: He acknowledges the younger generation of wrestlers who look up to him and aims to create opportunities for them while emphasizing collaboration over competition.
Future Aspirations
- Gunther articulates his desire to challenge himself by wrestling against a variety of opponents, contributing to the sport by creating memorable matches rather than solely seeking to be the top star.
Personal Relationships
- Gunther highlights the importance of his personal circle, mentioning his friendship with Marcel Kaiser and support from his wife, who shares his passion for wrestling, as key influences in his life.
Quotes
- “I always catch myself in those moments because I don’t make a secret about it. Like, I wasn’t a big WWE guy when I wrestled myself and stuff.”
- “I get bored by mundane stuff like very quick… I love those situations with a lot of responsibility.”
Conclusion This episode of "What Do You Wanna Talk About?" presents an intimate look at Gunther's life as a wrestler, his reflections on his career, and his views on the evolving landscape of WWE. It serves as both an inspiration and a candid discussion about the wrestling industry and the personal journey that defines a successful career.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOGunther's Journey in Wrestling
0:45 to 3:00
Gunther shares his challenges and triumphs in his wrestling career.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to What Do You Want to Talk About?”
The Impact of John Cena's Retirement
3:00 to 6:00
Discussion on the significance of John Cena's last match and Gunther's role.
“It's called Blood Sweat and Causing Tears.”
Memories and Emotions in Wrestling
6:20 to 10:00
Gunther reflects on the emotions tied to his matches and experiences in WWE.
“I chuckled a bit because I catch myself in the middle of that.”
Growing Up in Austria with Wrestling
10:00 to 13:00
Gunther talks about his upbringing in Vienna and early exposure to wrestling.
“It's a bit of a, as you know yourself, it's a nice thing, but I've got to stop myself a little bit.”
Training and Goals as a Young Wrestler
13:00 to 14:00
Gunther discusses his early training and aspirations in wrestling.
“Like all of the older boys, when I started, they were more or less leftovers from the Otto Wann's time.”
Pursuing Wrestling Dreams
14:00 to 21:48
The guest discusses the journey and growth in professional wrestling.
“Like officially, they made a living of it, but what living?”
Navigating the Wrestling World
22:54 to 28:00
Discussion on the experiences in PWG and the dynamics of wrestling culture.
“I did not realize you were not NXT champion.”
The Unbreakable Record
28:00 to 28:35
Discover the nuances of achieving and maintaining a wrestling record.
“Yeah, it was at that time, yeah, for sure.”
The Importance of Realism in Wrestling
28:35 to 29:10
Learn about the necessity of real interactions in wrestling matches.
“Because that was my point the whole time because I was kind of like still new and some guys told me, it's like, it can't be too long.”
Chopping Techniques in Wrestling
29:10 to 30:09
Explore different chopping techniques and their impact in matches.
Show all 37 chapters
The Art of the Chop
30:09 to 30:46
Understand the artistry behind effective wrestling chops.
Chopping and Audience Reaction
30:46 to 31:35
Discover how audience reaction enhances wrestling performances.
The Professionalism of Wrestling
31:35 to 32:36
Discuss the importance of professionalism in wrestling interactions.
“Are you getting asked to chop people a lot?”
Breaking Stereotypes in Wrestling
32:36 to 33:48
Explore the shift from old stereotypes to modern wrestling personas.
“I've been on so many indie shows where wrestlers would be like, okay,$10 or 10 pounds, then I chop you.”
Cultural Influences in Wrestling
33:48 to 35:03
Learn how cultural backgrounds shape wrestling characters.
“I always get a little bit annoyed because they go like, oh, he's just a bad foreigner.”
Wrestling in Vienna: A Personal Experience
35:03 to 36:28
Hear about personal experiences and insights from wrestling in Vienna.
“There's always somebody from somewhere else.”
Mentorship and Guidance
40:53 to 42:00
Discover the importance of mentorship and personal growth in one's career.
“I was thinking this on the way here because I've been really happy, and I hope you don't mind me sharing this, and if you do, totally okay.”
Seeking Guidance and Support
42:00 to 43:20
Discover how personal relationships impact professional growth and success.
The Importance of a Supportive Partner
43:20 to 44:48
Learn about the significance of having a supportive partner in the wrestling industry.
“All I hear is like support and go get it and all of that.”
Physical Transformation Journey
44:48 to 45:56
Hear about the physical changes wrestlers undergo and their motivations.
“The world saw the physical transformation that you went through.”
Challenges of Maintaining Fitness
45:56 to 49:12
Explore the struggles wrestlers face in maintaining peak physical condition year-round.
Competitive Edge Through Fitness
49:12 to 51:11
Understand how physical fitness can influence opportunities in wrestling.
“The one that interests them, a guy named Mike Cunningham, who got the WWE ID deal and does evolve, I think outside of being talented, coachable, has an it factor to him and just a good pick.”
The Evolution of Wrestling Talent
51:11 to 53:14
Discuss how the style and requirements in wrestling have changed over the years.
“It's not going to get you where you want to get to.”
Family Perspectives on Wrestling Careers
53:14 to 55:40
Learn how family members perceive and react to wrestling as a profession.
“And then you get these, you know, the NIL and the super athletic kids at NXT.”
The Intersection of Wrestling and Pop Culture
55:40 to 56:00
Examine how wrestling connects with mainstream culture and media.
The Evolution of Wrestling in Pop Culture
56:00 to 57:05
Explore how the wrestling industry has shifted to embrace pop culture and mainstream media.
Wrestlers and Influences: Iconic Figures
58:20 to 59:49
Discussion about legendary wrestlers and their impact on current stars.
“But then over here, we put Handsome Harley Race's T-shirt type robe.”
Intergenerational Influences in Wrestling
59:49 to 1:01:26
Delve into how past wrestlers influenced current generations and the respect in the industry.
“Like an unlimited gas tank, I always felt like.”
Politics and Wrestling: A Unique Perspective
1:01:26 to 1:03:14
Explore the intersection of politics and wrestling from a personal viewpoint.
“It was a government type moment just because of the respect.”
The Value of Directness in Wrestling
1:03:14 to 1:05:09
Discuss the importance of straightforward communication and its impact on wrestling dynamics.
“I think the wrestling world will prepare you well because as a politician what you can expect is you're going to be hated by everybody.”
Building a Brand Beyond WWE
1:05:09 to 1:07:14
Learn about the importance of creating a personal brand in the wrestling industry.
“I felt like people perhaps would expect me to have a negative slant on WWE during that period, and a lot of the people I would talk to were going.”
Current State and Future Aspirations in Wrestling
1:07:14 to 1:10:02
Insight into the evolving landscape of wrestling and personal aspirations for growth.
“And now we work in the best version of WWE that it's ever been.”
Aiming for the Top in Wrestling
1:10:02 to 1:11:36
Gunther discusses his aspirations within the wrestling hierarchy and the importance of collaboration.
“The reason we shake hands at nausea and backstage is because we need one another.”
The Importance of Unique Roles
1:11:36 to 1:12:40
The conversation highlights how different wrestling personas contribute to the industry's diversity.
“We are relying on one another, and I think we do it differently.”
Reflection on Sports Entertainment vs. Pro Wrestling
1:14:22 to 1:15:48
Gunther shares his thoughts on the distinction between sports entertainment and professional wrestling.
“So to actually see that making it to this moment, that was very, what's the word for it?”
Building a Dream Team
1:16:08 to 1:17:28
Gunther shares his ideal team for wrestling, emphasizing the importance of different skill sets.
“and I'll go ahead and say don't feel like you got to pick three, four, five.”
Wheatley Jingle Challenge
1:17:28 to 1:19:12
The hosts engage in a fun challenge to modify a jingle for Wheatley American Vodka.
“Yeah, that is, they're not doing many jobs, if any.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Cody Rhodes:Rated T for team.
0:05Cody Rhodes:My career has been a fight. A long, brutal, but necessary fight. I was told no more times than I can count. And every single time, I prove them wrong. I'm the cult of personality. The cult of personality. The cult of personality. WWE 2K26 pre-order now.
0:36Steph McMahon:Hello, everybody. It's the American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes. We are at WWE's warehouse. Thank you, Ben Brown, for providing this wonderful setup. This is a WWE and Fanatics original production. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to What Do You Want to Talk About? My guest today, quite the man in the news feed, And we just recently had his counterpart in the final match of John Cena's career on the podcast as well. One of my favorite people. A lot of your favorite wrestlers, favorite wrestler, former world heavyweight champion, intercontinental champion, all of those things. And one of my absolute favorite people, a style icon too.
1:20Steph McMahon:We might get into that here and now. Ladies and gentlemen, the man who's making all these kids cry these days. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the podcast. Gunther thank you
1:34Steph McMahon:what an intro
1:35Gunther:thank you for having me
1:36Steph McMahon:sometimes it's not there you know even if it's someone you really know and then you look at him and you're oh I also think the intros are becoming a problem because it's like let's just get to it you know what I'm saying like not everyone you know it's wrestling though so as we mentioned here's you know the world heavyweight championship and the European champion the Intercontinental Championship. Do we call that the European Championship? The UK?
2:01Gunther:It was called the NXT UK Champion, I guess.
2:05Steph McMahon:What a nice belt.
2:06Gunther:It was, yeah. I liked it a lot. I don't even know. I asked them back then. I wanted to keep the originals. You're never going to use it again, but they were very big on it. No, we've got to keep it in the archive. So I don't know. Maybe that's the one.
2:19Steph McMahon:Well, I mean, what's to stop you here? You come in here. Do you have anything you could trade? Ben Brown's all about a trade. Oh, yeah, right? Yeah, he's all about a trade. Might be a good idea. He also, off the books, even though this is now public and in the space, off the books every now and then will slide you something from your career that I got one, for example. Oval Intercontinental Championship, if you're looking for it. Thank you for that. I've got it.
2:43Gunther:But I don't have that much memorabilia yet, I have to say. It's like I just walked around here a little bit, and I saw all those great items, and I was like, I don't know. I don't have anything. Have you ever been here before?
2:53Steph McMahon:No. Oh, my gosh. That's my first time. Well, before we talk about this wonderful place, you have something special brought to us by our friends at Wheatley American Vodka. What is that? This is a special drink.
3:04Gunther:Very fitting for me. It's called Blood Sweat and Causing Tears. Wow.
3:08Steph McMahon:Wow. Blood Sweat and Causing Tears.
3:10Gunther:I'm a bit thirsty anyway.
3:11Steph McMahon:Yeah, absolutely. Cheers to you. Ba-boom. Thank you, sir. Here we go.
3:18Gunther:Salty. Very nice. Yeah. As it should be.
3:22Steph McMahon:That's a good one. And again, thanks to our friends at Wheatley American Vodka. I have my American Mule here, which is outstanding. Thank you to Bailey who put this together. All right, so blood, sweat, causing tears. In a classic Ric Flair sense of what's causing all this, all these tears, I would include my own in this. You have now just retired the greatest of all time, John Cena. How are you feeling? I feel fantastic.
3:51Gunther:And as you said, I could tell everybody was very, yeah. That day, strangely, it felt like, it almost felt like more intense than WrestleMania that day. Sure. Like backstage, I could tell. And for me, I always catch myself in those moments because I don't make a secret about it. Like, I wasn't a big WWE guy when I wrestled myself and stuff. I was always a big nerd for, like, Japanese wrestling and indie wrestling. That's what I always looked at. especially when I was younger, like 18, 19, my early 20s. So a lot of those like big memories that came with John, I didn't really live through this. I just saw it like on, I was reading results and stuff like that.
4:34Gunther:And so I just catch myself in the middle of this, the emotional stone that I am and everybody was like very worked up. But also for my own benefit, it was great to be the guy that can pull the rug on everybody. Don't you think maybe it's app that, like you said, you weren't really big into WWE growing up and all of John's milestones and things that were
4:56Steph McMahon:happening. It almost feels like that's appropriate that it was you versus someone, you know, I have my match with him at SummerSlam and it's filled with callbacks and emotion and drama and definitely the heavy weight of knowing who he was to me and who he was to me at that moment as well. The teacher the student those things for you another day at the office yeah so that's true because
5:23Gunther:also you you kind of like you were there with him for a few years and stuff like that the whole time
5:26Steph McMahon:he was like the top guy the whole time oh my gosh i drove him around and he was the i was wrestling carlito in the second match or who knows it was changing on the regular wrestling fit it was something like that and him randy uh him umaga whatever it may be every live event we did he'd get in the car and and really more than anything i felt like i was there to learn and be a wrestler on that card but it it felt like i was still driving the rock star around yeah it was his show especially during that time where a lot of freshmen on a varsity team we were there was the top and then there really wasn't that much else so yeah yeah see i never had that with him because
6:05Gunther:i think from until the day yeah of the match or maybe it said hello to him twice that was all the interaction that wow we ever had so uh you can hear people collectively more tears now so yeah so basically just uh ran into it when it comes to him as a person yeah um but yeah what a what a deal i think it's the yeah it was the biggest thing i've done in my career like the the first time most ever part of something with like that magnitude where i could really feel like it affects everybody yeah and yeah then on the other hand it's a bit like when I talked to my friends about it and stuff. I chuckled a bit because I catch myself in the middle of that.
6:44Steph McMahon:Of course. Well, you chuckled quite a bit lately. A lot of smiles. Yes. Came out to a very unruly crowd. Left the arena as a little viral video of you leaving the arena and it being a bit contentious. Yes. Did you feel, and I was going to ask you this, and you were surrounded by professionals and a really wonderful roster, but also a lot of young talent and a lot of actually young corporate in the WWE infrastructure. Did you feel there was a sense that this was a very real moment? Because I was looking at you at one point and I thought, he's kind of the most hated person in the building today and also in a way the most envied person in the building today, the responsibility of all that.
7:26Steph McMahon:Did you feel, like you said, it felt bigger than WrestleMania or it felt heavier than WrestleMania?
7:30Gunther:yeah I think heavier is a good term and but I gotta be honest I love those situations like I'm somebody that's in general in life I get bored by mundane stuff like very quick even like the other jobs I had before it's like okay that's your responsibility okay master that what's next and if I get caught in a loop where it's kind of like yeah you just do busy work it's the same old and I get yeah I get bored quickly so I love those situations with a lot of responsibility
7:59Steph McMahon:I think you need those situations. It's a sign of your career is something's happening with it where you walk in and you know, hey, this is a big one today, where you look around and the iconography is you are your opponent. When you know a lot of people, as John Cena taught me, the flights for Saturday night's main event for all of us who were there were paid for by you and him. That was the match. That was the money match. That wasn't – there were other matches on the show, and I was very honored to be part of it. but something that's lost on a bit of the newer generation is not every match sells tickets and that match, that event that actually sold tickets.
8:37Steph McMahon:And I was saying, you need those heavy moments. You need those milestones. Cause when you look at your body at work, you can look back and go, I'm way different. This is wild. And I don't know how I'm going to bring it up, but I landed in Louisville, Kentucky yesterday. I did a meeting with wonderful people at Wheatley American vodka. And I used to be in developmental in Louisville. And as we were landing, I was just looking out, asking myself, am I the same person? Because I'd hate if the answer was yes. Am I the same little kid inside, whatever, versus have I actually, have there been some things along the way?
9:13Steph McMahon:And I mentioned that because I called you a style icon in your intro. Very nice of you. Well, I feel like maybe it's a bit not spoken about in terms of you have this really, what would be the measured, but also kind of less is more style about it. But I'm pointing out this timepiece that's on your wrist as you have become the watch guy at WWE. What do you have?
9:38Gunther:As well. Rolex. What is it? GMT2.
9:42Steph McMahon:GMT2? Rose Gold? Yes. Is it a nickname, GMT2, or is it just a Rose Gold? No, no.
9:48Gunther:I don't think that has a, they call the other one, the two-tone they call. The two-tone and the root beer. I don't know if they call that one root beer. It's nice. That's definitely the root beer category. Yeah, thank you. It's a bit of a, as you know yourself, it's a nice thing, but I've got to stop myself a little bit.
10:05Steph McMahon:Well, no, you know, you don't because, I mean, you just. You don't have to, but. What did you wear on the day that you and John Cena went into the ring?
10:14Gunther:uh also gmt but the yellow gold one comes with the jubilee bracelet okay i like that one as well um yeah uh yeah it's basically something i just say when i grew up i don't know we were not like i didn't grow up poor or something but like also especially as a young adult i couldn't afford anything so now i'm very grateful for everything that's happened in my life and yeah i want to
10:38Steph McMahon:enjoy it a little bit so growing up uh i say vienna austria is that correct in terms of what Was there a specific suburb in Vienna? Where were you? Like your town. What is your town? Or is it Vienna?
10:48Gunther:In Vienna, they number the districts. The city has 23 districts. Yeah. They have a name, but usually when you talk about it, it's all numbers. And I lived in the 11th district. Okay. It's Simmering. It's a blue-collar part of town.
11:02Steph McMahon:Okay. I worry that they're numbering the districts. It's very Hunger Games. Districts are numbered. Okay. So you were in 11? Yes. You were in 11. um what was wwe's presence like in vienna uh as a kid in district number 11 was it there at all
11:17Gunther:yeah on vhs that's where it existed basically uh yeah when i grew up like the tournaments were still a thing like otto once the the tournament oh my gosh yeah i think they ran till like 97 or 98 yeah in vienna and that was my first contact with it all because otto once it's like in austria it's crazy i mean we're a small country yeah but when you and i don't know how is it now how it's now because it's yeah it's time moves on but i remember that al kogan undertaker auto once that's like what people know about wrestling yeah um he was such a big figure um and he was really good at promoting himself and promoting the sport and stuff so that was my first contact and that was yeah and since then i guess that that's where it's from there was the whole ambience with like it was like a open air it's like an ice skating spot yeah so they ran the tournament in the summer and it was all open air just a little roof over the ring and yeah i still connected very very specific atmosphere about it yeah um i loved it back then but that was the first time i got in touch with it and then later on friends had like vhs about wma back then yeah like mid 90s but it was kind of hard to get your yeah hands on it more or less you're the first person who's come
Read the full transcript
12:32Steph McMahon:on the pod has talked about auto auto vance yeah and and i feel like i only know the myth the lore i've heard fit talk about him i've heard mr regal talk about um that's a big chunk of we don't get that in america not unlike very different but not unlike i didn't know anything about big daddy yeah mexican you know regal's telling me all about big daddy and i'm going down this rabbit hole so different yeah in terms of uh what you had what age did you start training
12:58Gunther:um i have 2005 so i think it was 17 yeah yeah and when you're 17 and you're looking at training to
13:07Steph McMahon:become a pro wrestler did you have a goal did you have a thing you wanted to get to no and that's
13:13Gunther:like i think something that a lot of the boys from over here don't understand is like all of this that's not a realistic option if you grow up as a young boy in vienna okay because it's so far away yeah and even if you think back like wwe like when did they really open up to the outside like to the indies and stuff like that so now i just wanted to do it and started training and i just stuck to it i was like never that's where i want to go that's where i want to go my over the years my big goal became like hey i want to quit working a job and just do this as a profession That was a big goal. And that was unachieved.
13:52Gunther:Like all of the older boys, when I started, they were more or less leftovers from the Otto Wann's time. They barely made it somehow. Like officially, they made a living of it, but what living? So yeah, that was my big goal. I was like, hey, if I can turn this into a profession, then I'm already, there will be a dream scenario.
14:12Steph McMahon:Like I never had that wide view on possibilities. So that's crazy to me and never having the wide view, but also having talked to you a bunch of different times. You you're frustratingly. You say something like that. No, wasn't sure what it would be. You're you're frustratingly talented. I don't know. There are people who can just get up and do this. And there's people who require all this prep and all this training and all these voices around them. Like myself, I need a Michael Hayes. I need a Paul Heyman. and I need them all around me. What are we doing? And you just breeze right through. Can I ask you just a – I don't think I've ever asked anyone this question on the podcast, but I'll just ask you, do you think you're the best wrestler in the world?
14:59Steph McMahon:See, I don't think about that. I don't know. I don't – No, but if you had to really look at it. If I'm just asking you, not even a contentious competitive – just if you think looking at the entire what you know of that's out there, what's on the independent scene, what's elsewhere, and what's here, do you think you're the best wrestler in the world? At least one of.
15:16Gunther:It's hard to say. At least one of us, I mean, being in the discussion for it is,
15:25Steph McMahon:I think it's terrifying in a sense in terms of, I would tell you you're definitely in the discussion. And I think that's exactly why you were the man in the spot against John Cena. But just the idea that you're not really thinking of it for the, you don't have the wide view. Do you think you have a wide view now? Do you know now, taking what you've done, world champion, intercontinental champion for an absurd amount of time, just are you going to take what you've done now? What's the plan? Do you have a goal? You mentioned you get bored real quick. Yeah. So not looking for a spoiler here or anything of that nature, but is there another goal, another mountain to climb?
16:06Steph McMahon:There has to be.
16:07Gunther:Yeah, but not in the sense of like, I never had like that list, so that's what I want to achieve. I want to win this or whatever. it's more like i don't know i always kind of like want to grow in the responsibility i can take on yeah that makes sense yes i feel like that's what kind of like drives me where it's like okay i'm mastered like this very difficult situations okay now i can master something even more difficult i see it kind of like in that sense and i guess in our world that combines yeah that come like that automatically means like titles big matches and all of that um but yeah i think i've literally done it all the year i don't know that's i've just enjoyed it like i always wanted to do it and once i get out there that's where yeah i love it it's like it is i think i never had a match my whole career where i went like i'm not i felt like before like you know i'm not feeling it today but once i'm in the ring it's like you know we're good like i'm
17:01Steph McMahon:i'm having fun what's home yeah uh john cena when he came on the podcast referred to your respect for the ring and the sacred, the mat, and what it is, and the juxtaposition of styles. Here's a random just something that has me thinking because I know there's people in your life, but are you running a one-man show here, just a one-man wrecking crew, or do you have a circle here at WWE, a crew that keeps you from getting too far here, keeps you level. Do you have that?
17:40Gunther:In the company itself? Yeah. I think not really, no. I feel like if there's someone I talk to sometimes, it's Heyman. He's good for advice sometimes for certain situations. Not just like whatever the daily work, like promos, whatever, but just like the overall view, the big picture. No, otherwise, yeah, Marcel, obviously, Kaiser. He's my best friend, so he's good at giving me perspective. And otherwise, no, not really.
18:17Steph McMahon:Tons of respect for Marcel. And did you guys come over together?
18:21Gunther:No, he went earlier. So that's the whole thing. we really just started getting yeah getting going with wxw it yeah really picked up and then he got offered a deal and he was like i gotta take it and he wanted to say which i understand and i was always the guy i was like no yeah i understand stay yeah we go later uh but i totally get his decision everything worked out for him but yeah he was uh maybe three years earlier than me he came over yeah he moved to orlando started in a pc so he had to kind of like that the thing for him because he came in before when you were already somebody on the indies you could come into nxt and have a better position already yeah and he came in shortly basically before that like the indies haven't really taken that much off in europe and also the system was a little bit different so he had to yeah he had to start from zero in nxt and just do that whole thing so like he's really swallowed his pride on that and then i respect him for how he's done it because Because he was already wrestling like, I don't know, seven years, eight years when he signed.
19:28Gunther:And then start from zero, like learn how to roll and learn how to take a bump and stuff. Do you see big things for him? For Marcel, yeah, 100%. I think he's underratedly charismatic. Yeah. And he's a really good talker. like he's uh i always tell him it's like you need to go to hollywood at some point because he's very he's got a he's got something for the whole acting thing like i always tell him like i think he would have been a amazing like theater actor or something like that because uh yeah he's very he's very talented with languages too and stuff so um yeah very very very talented person when it comes to the wrestling side yeah of course like he's the he might be the only european second generation guy right now is there another one no i don't think there's another like with a i love him
20:26Steph McMahon:the son yeah i just enjoy watching too there's certain people that you don't have necessarily a relationship with or it's not an active dialogue but you just kind of watch from afar and he's one i always look around and it's a silly thing to ask myself but i wonder okay if i was to run a company if i ran a wrestling company who would i who would i want who would i because it's actually less people than you think you really you don't need as many people as you think you need really good ones and he's just someone who's he's taking what he has currently clearly running with it but uh yeah i was i wanted to hear your perspective on him because i think i think there's
21:02Gunther:big stuff for him yeah i think so too and it's like that's like the trickiest part sometimes when you're like really good friends but you're kind of like in different positions oh my gosh because out of my perspective, it's like super hard to be like, I'm the guy who skipped all of the system and who skipped all of that. Yeah. Wait it out. It's going to come. So it's kind of like, who am I to tell him? Like, going to come my friend, you know? It's like the difficult situation, but he's very good with me. Sometimes to keep me grounded. Yeah. You need that. Yeah.
21:30Steph McMahon:That's why I was asking. I was like, there's got to be someone in this circle that, that, that keeps it. And it's not always keeping, sometimes it's actually gassing you up. Yeah. Sometimes you need that. Like, I think lately I've liked a crew around me that's, tell me something nice. You know what I'm saying? I'm already beating myself half to death here. Tell me something good.
21:49Cody Rhodes:This episode is brought to you by WWE 2K26. You want to talk about legacy? You want to talk about the moments that define your life? That's what WWE 2K26 is all about. In this game, the show never stops. You want to talk about history? WWE 2K26 has the biggest roster ever assembled. Over 400 playable WWE superstars and legends. From the rebellious heart of the Attitude Era to the undeniable champions of today. You want to talk about action? WWE 2K26 has brand new match types like I Quit, Inferno, and the Three Stages of Hell match. Stack tables, break the rules, and embrace the unexpected. You've got the power to turn up the heat in every single corner of the ring.
22:36Cody Rhodes:Control your universe. Craft your legacy. Show the world what you're made of. Pre-order WWE 2K26 King of Kings Attitude Era or Monday Night War Editions to get up to seven days of early access starting March 6th.
22:53Steph McMahon:You mentioned skipping the system, which is something crazy. It's not in the case. I did not realize you were not NXT champion. It just felt like you would have been NXT champion.
23:02Gunther:No, I've only been there for two months. You just passed right through. Yeah, when I moved over to the States, it was in January, and then I did NXT until Mania. It was the Mania you returned in Dallas. And then I started the week after.
23:19Steph McMahon:I want to ask you about moving over, but I also, my knowledge of you, I know that you were PWG's champion at one point.
23:27Gunther:Yeah.
23:28Steph McMahon:I've we've had a lot of people on here did stuff at PWG. What was your experience like as serious as you take wrestling and as a sacred as the mat is in terms of PWG? I mean, PWG also treated certain matches. It was a sacred ground. The wrestling part of it. What was your experience like that being? I don't know how much of America you knew at the time.
23:53Gunther:Yeah, not so much, to be honest. um a little bit but it was definitely my first uh california experience more or less so it was
24:02Steph McMahon:Venice Gold's and all that yeah yeah of course of course I always you know it's a voice it's always you see like the international talent they still check all the hey we're at Venice Gold's they still do all the things and I love that okay to be honest like Venice Gold's Gym is like the
24:15Gunther:only thing I ever did like in Los Angeles like sightseeing wise I think I've never been in hollywood either like i never went um but it was like yeah pvg the thing is like it was cool because it felt like a little bit of an adventure too because you go to that hotel there whatever they had yeah at the airport and the van picks you up you go to that whatever i don't even know what the place was in recita what was that uh famous it was some what do you call them armory or something
24:41Steph McMahon:no it's not an armory no it was a it was a club like a we'll figure it out but it's it's demolished
24:48Gunther:it's non-existent yeah i think i think i think it's gone now yeah and uh yeah i just felt like a big adventure so i liked it and yeah wrestling wise it was yeah it was fantastic for me i was surprised i kind of like uh super dragon was like really yeah he was really excited about me coming and stuff because all the stuff i always saw i was always kind of like oh my gosh yeah what is this because you just see the worst of it often. Of course. I only remember the year I came, I've been told I'm going to be part of that big 10-man tag on the third day of BOLA, where they do all the goofy stuff.
25:24Steph McMahon:All the goofy stuff's in that one, yeah.
25:26Gunther:And I saw that, did the duck walk together. And on the first day, I was asking, like, who's going to be in that match? And then I got to them. I was like, none of that shit is going to happen on Sunday. I say it already. I say it already. But no, otherwise, it was great. We had a good crew. Yeah. A group of good guys there. So I always had a really good time there.
25:46Steph McMahon:I mentioned you're a lot of favorite wrestlers, favorite wrestler. And I'll give you an example. I've exaggerated the story for the purposes of my needs. Yeah. But I remember catering one time. We were on a European tour, all of us. And we were doing really well. Great, great crowds. And I think I might have been wrestling solo. and uh i came in and you and sammy zane another wrestler's wrestler um with his own unique personality we're having a conversation and gently implied that my work was lazy and uh and i yeah i remember like making a joke about it and being like ah you know like i was letting everyone know like they're over here talking about me not putting in like not changing things up on a nightly basis do a rinse and repeat whatever it may be but there was a small shred of truth to it and i thought oh well you know all right gunther's gonna be watching at the monitor i will i will i will pull out a couple changes and i think even that night that i did a change a bunch of stuff i come back and you hadn't watched any of it i'm like we did a whole thing we did you know um but i really like that because i feel like that keeps you there are there are others like you as well that that keeps you on your toe bret hart yeah it was like that when he would come back and watch us.
27:04Steph McMahon:The art of what we do, if you want to call it that, or the structure of what we do and the change and you being one to get bored. I'm not doing the same thing each night and changing it up. I appreciate having you in every locker room. You remember the Royal Rumble in San Antonio? Yeah. Yes. I remember it for a couple of reasons. I was so excited, A, to win it. But also, I remember they did AI, or I don't even know if we would say AI, digital pyro. off the roof that wasn't real. It's still one of, it taints every time I've ever seen the clip. I'm like, oh man, that was great. What a great moment.
27:40Steph McMahon:Then they show this outside shot that is just clearly, it looked like, gosh, Matty Cox put it together on his.
27:46Gunther:The thing is like pyro doesn't hit if it doesn't make sounds, right?
27:49Steph McMahon:That's the other thing. There was, yeah, you need the mortars. Yes. You need the mortars to go off. I believe, I don't know if it's on my sheet here. I believe you still hold the record, correct, for the longest in the Royal Rumble? Yeah, it was at that time, yeah, for sure. Has it been broken? I don't think so. I was of the thought it couldn't be broken, and it was because we ended up doing a bit of a singles match once I got in there because I felt so strange. I'm coming out at the end and then… Yeah, see, I remember that.
28:25Gunther:I kind of like how I feel like that record happened was that whole thing about us having a bunch of time at the end. Yeah. Because that was my point the whole time because I was kind of like still new and some guys told me, it's like, it can't be too long. Yeah. I was like, he's your guy. He's the top guy returning and he walks in in 30. He's got to overcome something. Otherwise, it's just handed. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? so I'm glad we did it and yeah at the end like I like I never had like a record or something in my yeah in my mind they just told me when I came back well I always I'm curious where I know someone right now is looking it up but I'm curious because I always felt a little bit of pride in the fact
29:08Steph McMahon:that there was a discussion that day yes you do hold the record and I think you will hold the record for some time because there was a discussion that day and I don't know we could just get right to it and it felt the same exact way you did no we need to get in there yeah we need and i needed it i was coming back from injury i mean the i told people the first time you chopped me my chest had been ruptured and destroyed yeah and to come back and the first thing we do is get in there with someone who's chopping trees down with that and i i came alive yeah i need i need my and this i know people watching may not understand or may even poke fun at the statement i need my wrestling to be real yeah right and that was one where i was there there there was and there is something to it because sometimes you're in there with guys where they don't really come on let's go yeah
29:56Gunther:just whack them real good one time yeah and they're awake and then the match gets better
30:02Steph McMahon:so sometimes that that helps a lot so uh you you being someone known for the for the big chop uh as you just just pointed out is there uh do you have a kind of a you don't have to give me because it's the most annoying question wrestlers will ever get asked but do you have a top two top three kind of guys who are throwing chops is there somebody you saw throwing chops that you thought i want you know i i have a couple that are not here chop wise uh i was a big kibashi guy
30:30Gunther:sure all the time so that's i guess that's where i would say that's where it came from
30:35Steph McMahon:okay i um i thought the there's two guys who've chopped me like you chopped me but not as good as you chopped me i'll just be straight your chop is the chop uh chris hero was one yeah and then jt dunn yeah and the the only way i even at a wrestling school i could i could learn i could teach you know hey if you don't have a good chop go overhand keep it above the nipple whatever like i could i could give some bit of a directive but i remember explaining to people there's these knife-edge chops that steamboat's throwing yeah and it's more this big motion and it's powering through but then there's these stoppers is what i call them which chris hero was someone and you the same thing where it's flat yeah and it's bam and it's right there and it stops you yeah it's a it's it's an offensive move that's beyond like the the sound yeah there's a lot of actual oh yeah behind that um yeah those uh your chop your chop definitely
31:28Gunther:has has woken me up the thing is like uh with chopping people and stuff i think what back then in europe often we wrestled in like i don't know small gymnasiums there's 100 people there you chop somebody real good and you get a good noise of it yeah but that's more get more reaction for that than you get for a lot of the other things you do yeah and yeah i'm very happy that yeah stuck that i can that still works here now too because obviously in a bigger building it's different um but yeah it's uh i always like to use very basic instruments yeah to still try to
32:05Steph McMahon:achieve a big reaction ah it's a really great great way to put it the basic the basic instruments um are you getting a lot of people i don't know if you get this but you've uh you you've done a ton of press you're out there you're you're very much one of the faces of the company and always leading forward so well. Are you getting asked to chop people a lot? Yeah. But I never do it. Never do it. And why do you never do it?
32:31Gunther:Because I'm a professional and they're not. That's a great answer. As easy as it is. It's a great answer. I always found it so weird. I've been on so many indie shows where wrestlers would be like, okay,$10 or 10 pounds, then I chop you. They would chop 50 people in a row and are happy to make a little bit of money off that. And I think that's just, you got to draw a line there. Yeah. It's like, I'm not going to, I don't know, I'm not going to bust my ass in training and all of that for so many years to learn it right, just to goof around with the fans afterwards. Yeah. I don't know.
33:03Steph McMahon:It just feels wrong. I was just curious of people because the other day, you know, sometimes you get that morning news guy or you get that media where they're, that's the only idea they had. That's the end. And it becomes like, eh. And then you've got the WWE rep with you, of course, who is, no, absolutely not. But then part of me is thinking, you know, let's just pick this guy up, do an airplane spin, something. If that's all I can get out of this. Oh, wow.
33:28Gunther:No, I think we're a little bit, I think we moved on from that stuff a little bit where it's like.
33:33Steph McMahon:One of the reasons we moved on is because of people like you. Yeah. You know, I'm sure you've heard this term before, but just old school vaudeville style territory wrestling, the foreign menace. Yeah. Right? You're not that.
33:47Gunther:No, I'm not a foreign menace. I always get a little bit annoyed because they go like, oh, he's just a bad foreigner. I try to avoid everything that has to do with a flag or something. I mean, they put it on my trunks when I started out. They really wanted to have the flag on my whatever. I got rid of it as soon as I could because it just doesn't do anything. It's not 1990 anymore. And I think today it's about the person.
34:09Steph McMahon:Yeah, you're the modern man, dude. Yeah. And the modern, you know, not a lot of people will like this. and you know gen x and they're a little bit more community sense but the modern i want a winner this is a winner i'm a winner if you like it you like it if you don't you don't i mean like your drink you know blood sweat i do like it it's almost done and causing tears yeah again brought to our uh brought to us here by wheatley american vodka yeah no the uh you don't check i think for years for years and i had actually heard my dad and other promoters talk about this for years that's what they were really looking for yeah is not a stereotypical not a generalization of what americans don't know outside they actually were looking for somebody who came in and was so sleek so that that's that's the heat almost i shouldn't be but that's the heat so educated yeah so so that that you know to a two degree looking down yeah even if you're not you know there's this element of like oh i get what you mean yeah no um no i agree and uh yeah it's still
35:14Gunther:i gotta be honest it's still yeah sometimes it still sticks that whole like uh foreign thing but then on the other hand it's a it's very stereotypical and i think it's a little bit like i guess it was more accurate like in the 80s or something like that i feel like now america is such a diverse country and stuff like that i i don't know depending where you're at but yeah We had a place up like in the Northeast a little bit or something. I barely met an American person there. There's always somebody from somewhere else. It's such a diverse place, I think. It doesn't matter where you're born in the world.
35:46Gunther:Home will always be home. Yeah. And nothing will ever be able to replace it. It does not matter. Even if you come up in a country that's poor and you didn't have a good upbringing or something. That feeling of home, nothing can replace that.
36:00Steph McMahon:Yeah. um and speak well speaking of home we wwe goes to uh you know vienna do you enjoy those shows
36:07Gunther:when you get to go home oh yeah yeah it's great um especially vienna i was so proud last time actually because we doubled the house almost from like the one live show to the other yeah i was really happy about that uh we had the wiener stadthalle was sold out how do you say it one more day the wiener stadthalle the vienna city hall was sold out. I was really happy about that. So yeah, that's cool coming back there. Because there was also something that I always kind of like, not a goal, but I always dreamed about it. Like one day you're going to have a match in that venue. I didn't put it on like for who, but one day you're going to wrestle in there.
36:44Gunther:That's a goal, yeah. I always thought. So no, going to Vienna is really cool. And Austria is so funny because it's a bit behind. and there was that one uh that one reporter from that one from the big newspaper they have there and he was already writing about otto like he worked for 35 years or something like that so he was all excited and he always called me up and be like anything new can we do something and when are you coming again and they would always write big stuff about it it was so cool because the style it was written was still like he would still use like old terms yeah certain stuff uh Yeah, Vienna's Austria's old school.
37:25Steph McMahon:Yeah.
37:25Gunther:It's a bit behind all this time.
37:28Steph McMahon:So my discovery, I went to Vienna. WWE did a tour, and I was wrestling. I was tagging with Bob Holly. And it was part of a big tour where I really was so naive to the rest of the world. One of the greatest gifts of my life was WWE sending us everywhere we could so I could learn about all these places the best I could. I could see them. I could understand a bit more. but that what surprised me is i had been told the german crowds in germany were going to be a little bit more subdued a little bit harder to uh bring out of their shells i don't know if you know that story uh marcel's grandma i tried to make laugh for like 15 minutes in a match with the miz oh it didn't work yeah i don't think i got one smile um but uh i'd heard it was similar and then i I remember going to Vienna and the place wasn't.
38:18Steph McMahon:They were loud. Yeah, it's a bit different. They were really, really enthusiastic. I actually specifically remember Umaga. And maybe because even then we were trying to figure out, is there like an auto, the big barrel-chested type intimidating force that he was. But he had tagged in. He was doing a match with Snitsky. He had tagged in. He was a bad guy. Crowd went nuts. So they did the right thing. Snitsky tagged himself back in. Boo. Umaga tagged himself back in. And yeah, and they just worked and they worked. And I think they went home. They were wrestling like London and Kendrick or something.
38:51Steph McMahon:And they went home. I just remember watching that and thinking this crowd is awesome. It's one of my absolute favorite, favorite, favorite crowds. And that building, it's always that same building, right?
39:04Gunther:Yeah, they usually go there. And it is true because we're very culturally, we're very, very close to Germans. But also we have that Eastern European influence, which is already more lively. Also, you have the South, like Austria is basically like in the, it's that transitioning country from like Germany to Southern and Eastern Europe. Sure. So you catch a lot of that culture too. And that's definitely more, a little bit more passionate and stuff. It's also something I lived in Germany for a long time. And people there are more like save your money and a little bit more stingy about stuff. and it's harder for them to have a good time, I think.
39:44Gunther:While Austrians, it's like you go out, you have a good time. It doesn't matter what you do or how much money you have available. You're still going to spend a little bit of it to go out and have a good time. There's also like still it's so old school. There's no such thing as like let's meet up for a coffee with your friend. No, we're going to meet up for a couple of beers. Sure. Yeah. None of that. Yeah. I love it. I love going back and maybe it doesn't happen often, maybe once or twice a year.
40:15Cody Rhodes:The throwdowns are on and WWE merch at Fanatics is 30 % off with Pays, a fast online checkout offered by banks and credit unions. Snag Cody Rhodes t-shirts, title belts, snapback jackets, or swag for more of your favorite stars, all 30 % off. With Pays, your actual card numbers aren't shared with merchants, so you can check out with added security and rock your fandom like a champ. Use Pays with code PaysPerks for 30 % off at Fanatics until March 31, 2026. Terms apply at fanatics.com slash PaysPromo. I was thinking this on the way here because I've been really happy,
41:00Steph McMahon:and I hope you don't mind me sharing this, and if you do, totally okay. Of course. I was really always happy that every now and then you would come to me with a question. And I thought, I can help. That's a question that I can help you to ask. And it was never about wrestling. It was a question about W2B and a question about the corporate ladder, the talent ladder, all the things. And I always was really proud, or at least would try my best. I have the experience. I can help him with that question. but the uh excuse me the thing i was thinking about was in terms of you here is there someone in in your life or someone in your career uh they that you look up to because i feel like so many people look up to you and i feel like so many people also just look at you and assume very much his own yeah and i and i wonder is there someone in who's who's been a guiding light for you or just a motivating factor doesn't have to be a wrestler i don't know you know family whatever it may be i was curious just on the who does who do you go to in in in your moments or not even
42:09Gunther:who do you go to who do you look to well look to it's a good question actually because i don't really have like a i had like mentors along the way i would say but right now like in the last i don't know i guess like 10 years almost already not really i don't know um i try to figure out things myself um but yeah i definitely had like funny enough like one of the people that kind of like shaped me the most was just my boss said that logistics job i had at some point okay like a very smart guy what's his name uh bernd burmeister yeah his name and this was at a logistics job yeah yeah okay yeah and he i did i didn't have like a very tight like relationship with him but there was a few times i went to him and he really helped me out and gave good advice and a lot of that yes that applies to everything in life sometimes especially and i feel like because i was like in a not like in a managing job it was lower tier but i had like responsibility over a few people and stuff like that i feel like a lot of stuff when it comes to like to responsibility and dealing with people all of that applies in wrestling as well even though it's a different setup so that helps a lot but i think right now it's mostly like my yeah it's either i talked to either marcel or my wife yeah like those are the two that i converse the most with does she love what you do yeah she i mean she wrestled herself so yeah and she had to stop so she's kind of like i feel like a lot of people could turn bitter on it but she doesn't yeah and yeah we're in a different stage in our life too and everything but she loves it for me it's kind of like i'm a very blessed person because i know sometimes the guys it's hard with their other half at home with the travel and being away and i have yeah i'm i don't have that issue like yeah she even like right now i'm not seeing them for a month because they're still in england but it's never a headache or something.
44:10Gunther:All I hear is like support and go get it and all of that. So that's a very important factor, by the way. Oh my gosh. If the home is not a supportive environment, then that anchors you a lot. So that's a big game changer for me.
44:27Steph McMahon:I don't know if these two relate, but maybe they do, maybe they don't. But one of the things that the world saw, which I'm glad you enjoyed blood, sweat, and causing tears.
44:41Gunther:Can we order one more here?
44:41Steph McMahon:We can absolutely order you one more. Yes, it's inbound. Thank you. The world saw the physical transformation that you went through. Yeah. And I had seen all facets of you. Because I actually watched you wrestle live on a show. but like I had seen what you were doing overseas.
45:04Gunther:We had you at WXW.
45:06Steph McMahon:Yeah, WXW, which I always love. WXW let WWE use the footage from 16 Carat, or it was 16 Carat? Yeah, for me, for my documentary, because they were an incredible crowd. And I, again, didn't know what I was walking into with that. They were just an incredible crowd. That's the first time I ever crowd surfed, and it's the first time I ever realized, oh, you can do this. like if you give them enough of an Iggy they will actually get you all the way back to the ring one of my absolute uh favorite moments but again we all watch this physical transformation which I believe is 65 pounds you're 65 pounds heavier oh could be um I'm really bad with numbers if you
45:46Gunther:know it's just it's tough yeah I think I must have been around I'm now two between 240 240 all the time and i was yeah i was 300 easily at the highest so yeah and and uh you know i always i'm
46:00Steph McMahon:real i'm real petty and real judgy when we're on the road and if i go to the gym you know there's always a local gym that somebody provides the boys yeah if i'm in there and i don't see anybody i'm thinking what's going on where's the rest of them like where's where the rest you know where are they problem breakers always in there so i always tell them you know la night's always in there you're another one you're always you and marcel there's always like an effort to be the healthiest be the most fit because today productivity wise in the ring we have to be yeah you can't pick somebody up you can't catch Javon flying 90 feet in the air you can't do any of that unless you actually have the the base and the skills but was there a reason for this turnaround because so many people I'm sure you've heard they wax poetic about past and the lore of people before they came up or did you see such and such before he was even better she was even better what was your reason for it i thought yeah you know what it's you go on television now it's
46:55Gunther:like i think it's the right thing to do yeah it's about time and just for me it's like because i always i always felt great i was yeah in the ring also i moved well and stamina was not an issue so i felt good but it was like you know what it's it's gonna be overall the better decision to do that so that was basically the driving factor and then obviously uh i had the guys around back then and they pushed me too and marcel was actually doing it first he was like in because he would but that's the thing marcel is like a buddy type that he really had if he wants to get big it's a struggle for him like he has to really really want it so if he just eats normally he will rather lose weight than gain weight yeah and he just had like a few a long time behind him where he managed to break through a threshold of like being comfortable eating more so he was a little bit like he was big but he wasn't really uh defined that i actually told him it's like hey if you do a diet you would be so ripped and it would look even bigger and then he did it and i was like and he was then kind of like man maybe you should do and yeah yeah you're right so uh that's how it all happened but it was a the thing is like it's a bit of a slippery slope sometimes because it's a big factor for us like to be in shape and it's a big factor but it's like also we're not bodybuilders and it's such a it's so hard to judge yourself like where your sweet spot is yeah because when you look yourself in the mirror it's always like oh shit i still yeah and i should i should do more well objectively everybody else tells you no no you look great right what are you doing right so that's like the downside of that a little bit because once you're really in that because when you do you know what yourself if you do like a real strict diet and stuff for a few months yeah you're really like in the like you have tunnel vision basically yeah it's everything you could adapt your whole day to just i don't know get my five meals and get my training and all that stuff the guys out there by the ring with their meal prep yeah yeah you know yeah yeah i did the same i always brought my yeah ready to cook meal it's miserable it's not a nice well you can feel
49:02Steph McMahon:someone's frustration just carrying around some tupperware yeah yeah or the big you know amino bottle or whatever the heck they have yeah but it's just it's a lot of the success successful guys oh yeah i know that's going on the things like the results are great but you can bring that
49:18Gunther:in he got a new but but it's also for us it's almost like unrealistic because even like the best bodybuilding in the world gets in shape once a year yeah yeah but the our our thing is we gotta have been shaped all year round yeah yeah that's just factually not realistic that's crazy that is
49:35Steph McMahon:not possible oh man uh it's so funny too when people will be who are outside my world be like you got a show this weekend and i always inside just groan yeah i'm like there's a show every weekend yeah just show every it's this it's every monday it's every yeah and fine like you said the sweet spot yeah i've i've found that because thinking about your physical transformation I do I do think there's something to be said for when you see it when you see someone change you know that they can do the work yeah I don't know if why they did it I don't know what the purpose but uh WWE recently did the WWE ID program right and they made the Nightmare Factory one of the schools an ID program there's so many kids who had a lot of experience that I suggested maybe him Maybe her.
50:21Steph McMahon:The one that interests them, a guy named Mike Cunningham, who got the WWE ID deal and does evolve, I think outside of being talented, coachable, has an it factor to him and just a good pick. I actually think the thing that they looked at was the fact that he got in great shape. He said, okay, bet, and got in great shape. And that is just an old school way of when you see someone dialed in. when you see someone locked in, oh, they're going for it.
50:52Gunther:But it is a little bit, it's like it can be a deciding factor, but it's not automatically because if you say if there's a group of three, let's say, and they're all equally talented, but only one is in shape, the one who's in shape will be the one who gets the chance. Sure. But if you don't have certain things, it doesn't matter how good in shape you are. It's not going to get you where you want to get to. So it's important, but then on the other hand, it's not the main thing.
51:18Steph McMahon:No, not at all. But I'm almost, you would hate this and you would hate working with them, but I'm almost looking for us to just get some jacked up bodybuilder dudes again. You know, like real 90s, like ones that all the boys can't stand. Yeah. Just somebody like, look at the look. Look at that. And then we all have to figure out how to do it. Because that is now, I would say, hopefully you're not thinking of someone. I'd say it's missing. Yeah. The old, just the legit bodybuilder type.
51:45Gunther:Like, look, he looks great. Yeah, I mean, that's our wellness policy. That won't happen. Yeah, no, it won't happen. Yeah, no, that is, yeah. The bodybuilders were all out. We got to get a natural bodybuilder, but they're not that big. So that's the. Yeah, no.
51:57Steph McMahon:I heard this term the other day, and I hated it. Because I always, I use the same. There's like two pictures I look at in the physical. I want to get shredded by X. I want to be. One is Triple H at WrestleMania 18, which is just absurd. And then the other is Stallone from 3, where his face is like so. Yeah. You can see his cheekbones. But, yeah, I heard this term the other day. Somebody was describing how at WWE you may not be in shape, but everyone who is in shape just has an athletic build. Yeah. I hate the term athletic build.
52:34Gunther:There's something to it. It is.
52:36Steph McMahon:No, it is. But I'm like, man, I just want that. I don't know. I know it's not going to happen, but I just want one bodybuilder back in the mix. Just one full-blooded.
52:45Gunther:Terrence Peck six-lossin.
52:46Steph McMahon:Yeah, really, exactly. Well, that's also the thing you look at him, and you're like, brother's going to tear his tricep just getting in the ring. Oh, my God. Like, brother's going to, yeah. So, no, yeah, we don't have those anymore. But do we? Am I missing? Is there one out there? No. The bodybuilders, they're dinosaurs. Yeah. They went away. It's true. Asteroid hit the earth.
53:08Gunther:But it's also like, I think what we do now, the style has changed so much. It's like, you got to be mobile, and you got to be agile, and you got to be able to, yeah, move. You got to be an athlete.
53:17Steph McMahon:Yeah. And then you get these, you know, the NIL and the super athletic kids at NXT. Oh, yeah, that's crazy, man.
53:23Gunther:But that's also something. It's like whatever you do as a kid when you start out, sports-wise, like that kind of like build or what, that's going to stick with you for the rest of your life. So, yeah, it's unfair. They're all coming in.
53:39Steph McMahon:When you were a youngster, did you play any sports?
53:41Gunther:Yeah, football. Yeah? Soccer. Soccer, yeah. I was a goalkeeper for, I don't know, I think I started with six years old until I was 16 or something. Yeah, that was my big passion first. Like, obviously, football in Europe, that's the sport. My mom was actually, she played herself, and she's a coach now. No way. Yeah, she's got a girls team, like kids team. What does Mama Gunther think of all this? Yeah, they're very happy now. Yeah. At the beginning, they were a bit concerned. Well, grandparents too, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, grandparents can't grasp it. It's like I was literally visiting my grandmother from the father's side when I was in Austria before I came back when we were in Vienna.
54:28Gunther:And she's still to this day, because she grew up with the family business, and that's the one line to go professionally. And nothing else is going to work out. And she still asks me, like, so once you stop, how are you going to make money? How are you going to? It's the best. Yeah. At my wedding, like we had a very nice wedding. She and I got married at the Four Seasons in London and stuff. They judged you. No, she was like, did you win in the lottery or something?
54:55Steph McMahon:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
54:56Gunther:Like, how is this? I mean, I know you don't have a real job, but how did that happen? So you can't really explain it, right?
55:07Steph McMahon:I brought my mom to Cardiff. and I was like, oh, I'm going to have her travel like I travel and I really want this for her. And it was all the, you know, we did like the Windsor suite coming into London, a couple privates, not just, we did a plane that was not just business and economy, but had a first, put her in first. She got her pajamas, all the nonsense. And I thought she was having the time of her life. This is my mom. I'm of course going to break the bank for my mother. Like this is how we do it. this is it uh the greeters at every airport she was just in her element but then immediately when she came back you know how parents are and like grandparents are immediately she told my sister and she told brandy she's like i'm worried you know i think he's spending all the money and just the way she said it like that was for you yeah that was for you uh and no but that speaks
56:03Gunther:for your mom because you rather say save it up for yourself son yeah but it's it is a different
56:08Steph McMahon:like you were saying like even though you don't have a real job it's so different now yeah uh and it's the amount of you know the three r's that you know nick con always talks about the ratings the relevancy and the revenue just the industry we had timothy chalamet on here talking about becoming pop culture and it really is i mean you're in the ring john cena you're having this match espn live updates yeah and not live updates that felt out of place yeah live updates just genuinely where we are in the match that is a feather in the cap to you a feather in the cap to john a feather in the cap to every wrestler who helped start to lay that framework um i don't know if you remember undertaker netflix premiere just wanted to talk to the whole group yeah and i don't know if the whole group fully grasped he was saying this was all we ever wanted guys the biggest audience you could possibly get is sitting out there for you this is all we've ever wanted um no for sure yeah
57:05Cody Rhodes:Today, we are excited to introduce a new sponsor to the show, Morgan & Morgan, America's largest injury law firm. They've been fighting for the people for over 35 years and have recovered over$30 billion for their clients. Not only are they one of our new sponsors, they are also the official law firm partner of WWE. And what I love most about Morgan & Morgan is that they are truly for the people. Today, they are coming in hot and want to hook up one lucky fan with two tickets to WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas this April 18th and 19th. In addition to the two tickets to WrestleMania, our friends at Morgan & Morgan will also be giving the lucky winner$2 ,000 to help cover their travel expenses to Las Vegas.
57:47Cody Rhodes:To enter, all you have to do is text CODY42 to FORTHEPEOPLE. That's Cody42 to 484-373-6753 and follow the prompts. Don't miss out on your chance to watch WrestleMania 42 live. Just text Cody42 to ForThePeople. No purchase necessary. Open to legal residents of the 48 contiguous United States and DC who are 18 and older. Sweepstakes ends March 29, 2026. This is a paid advertisement.
58:20Gunther:Just wanted to point something out. left my mind no it's all right i was gonna say speaking of just the rest the type of wrestler
58:26Steph McMahon:you are we always uh ben brown always will curate a bit of the uh the warehouse here for of course behind you you don't see it but there's john cena's never give up shoe it just says give up very good it uh yeah very accurate it just says give up um i'm gonna pay attention to the details there's a Greco-Roman statue for your purist style. But then over here, we put Handsome Harley Race's T-shirt type robe. Very nice. Kowalski. I think the dusty boots are always there, the Kowalski robe, because that's somebody that you have been compared to here. Fellow Walter. Yeah. Fellow Walter.
59:10Gunther:Walter Kowalski.
59:12Steph McMahon:Yeah. Have you had any interaction with him? No. Never? Never, no. And really, it's just big, tall. I think the work is probably considerably different in terms of what you have to do. Different time. Yeah. Who's somebody you mentioned, Otto, of course, and you're talking about? I feel like it's going to be a different answer. It's going to subvert my expectations on what I'm asking. But was there a wrestler that you wanted to be like or looked up to or idolized?
59:43Gunther:Yeah, if I pick one out, it's Stan Hansen. Stan Hansen? Yes. Yes, okay. The man. Yeah. Absolute machine. Yeah. Like an unlimited gas tank, I always felt like.
59:53Steph McMahon:What era, Hansen? Japan? Yeah, of course. Oh, my gosh. I only watched Hansen in Japan.
1:00:00Gunther:So, so good. That's him. Yeah, really good. I think that's where kind of like, because he was like the disruptor, right? Yes. Like in Japan, everybody just walks calmly to the ring, and him and Brody as well, they would come. Yeah. swing whatever they got and create chaos and yeah maybe that's where the whole inspiration
1:00:20Steph McMahon:came from yeah like you gotta be yeah disrupt a little bit i uh i there's i read the reason i asked about hansen era hansen throughout japan is unbelievable and like you said unlimited gas tank just a machine yeah and in there with other machines um but there's also that era of hansen where he's wrestling bruno yeah and this an era that i don't think like the longer hair hansen that it's fun to see because he had that as a base, the ability to bump around and move around and do things. He had that as a base as he moves forward into his career in Japan. One of the, just when he went into the Hall of Fame, I was very, very excited.
1:01:01Gunther:Oh, me too. I remember that actually. It was really cool that they did it, but obviously it's like in the WWE picture, he's not the most known guy. Yeah. But also when they had like Inoki inducted, I was like, oh, that's so cool.
1:01:12Steph McMahon:Yeah. Yeah, when I met Enoki, I was probably seven, eight, I'm not sure. But the way I was explained to say hello to Enoki, and you would have thought I was meeting a foreign dignitary. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a government type moment just because of the respect. And just, yeah, Enoki's another great Hall of Famer.
1:01:33Gunther:Funny side note, actually, he's the guy that brought Tabasco to Japan.
1:01:37Steph McMahon:The hot sauce? Yes. Okay, walk me through that.
1:01:41Gunther:maybe it's not true but i think this is real it's real now but everybody i've been i've been told that everybody says that apparently he was the one that got tabasco to japan was he comes to the
1:01:51Steph McMahon:states because he went to mexico gets tabasco and then from the states or whatever yeah and then
1:01:55Gunther:says we have to have it no i guess it's was to make money and just oh my gosh i believe this
1:02:01Steph McMahon:actually selling it to everyone i mean that era too of carny even when you're not carny we're We're going to sell this over. Got to have a little side hustle. Yeah.
1:02:11Gunther:But if anybody watches that, I guess maybe they can correct me. But I've heard this story numerous times from different people.
1:02:16Steph McMahon:So Tabasco, pro wrestling, you know, they should be grateful to the squared circle for Anoki. I mean, government, Senate, I believe, in Japan. Yeah, he was in politics. Genuinely in politics. And then the great videos that are out of con. You're not going to be the first one when you run for senator.
1:02:41Gunther:I do have it on my wish list of things.
1:02:45Steph McMahon:I'll look at Enoki and see.
1:02:46Gunther:I can see that. I told you that before. I said, you're going to be the senator of Georgia.
1:02:50Steph McMahon:I would love it. I would love it. I can see that. Georgia has a couple of seats that kind of come up, and I always look at it and think, you know. I mean, you can do it after or something,
1:03:00Gunther:but it's also very, I think politics is a very bad image for, I guess, good reasons too, but it's also absolutely necessary that people that already achieved something and decide to be like, hey, I want to service the community at the end of the day. That's really what it all should be. I think the wrestling world will prepare you well because as a politician what you can expect is you're going to be hated by everybody. Everybody will have something to say about you. Roman Reigns called me a politician one time
1:03:27Steph McMahon:and I remember thinking, I'm not mad at that. I grew up in the business. yeah everyone is in to a degree but to me there's politics there's posturing and then there's snaking and backstabbing and like one of the great things about you as a as a peer and a wrestler and someone in the locker room just straight up it's and i think i think a lot of guys in our modern roster are straight up yeah this is what i think is better i agree this is what i think isn't let's talk about it someone's making a decision then we'll but the opinion's been weighed yeah right you know because you can smell when you get around the ones today that are this is going to be really good for you and you can already tell like no it's not yeah i can tell
1:04:13Gunther:this isn't even for me like no i agree to that it's uh but also like you said it like it it's a cultural thing a little bit too at least for me it's like i'm i grew up with if nothing said is good yeah you only told bad things yeah that's how i grew up so i still struggle with like i don't know that's why i'm not as good as maybe sometimes being complimentary or something like that also receiving it um and i think but being also the the upside of that being straightforward is yeah is is good because it gets you where you want to go quicker if you like but also on the other hand i had my experiences over here too but maybe it was too direct i don't know no i think
1:04:59Steph McMahon:maybe that was too maybe maybe but i still think you're so much better being direct and i tell the kids at the school all the time every day is a little battle there's something that's against you every day small thing uh it could be the smallest of thing the order of entrances for you yeah for sure all you gotta do is weigh your opinion someone else is making the call yeah someone else is gonna make the call but if you weigh your opinion it's far better than if you're stewing and getting angry about it um yeah as you go and then you build it up uh you know
1:05:27Gunther:you know all that i i agree with that but touching back on being complimentary i want to put some i want to put you over with something because you came to wxw back then right i did yeah i did the tournament uh we were in the face of like like we really wanted to get to a place like we and i think when you came we were like we were running close to 100 shows a year and yeah and a few people employed and stuff like that and we wanted to yeah refine everything we did and uh maybe you remember that i pulled you aside and asked you like hey explain to me yeah how does this work with like how does this work yeah this work in wb and you gave me the whole rundown okay of
1:06:09Steph McMahon:everything and i was away from wb at the time yeah yeah but you were there and stuff but you
1:06:13Gunther:had way more experience than any of us over there and uh yeah i was very grateful for that back then because that wasn't the norm with the guys back then that came over. Yeah. So I just wanted to get this out.
1:06:27Steph McMahon:No, thank you. Thank you. I felt like people perhaps would expect me to have a negative slant on WWE during that period, and a lot of the people I would talk to were going. Yeah. So I'd give them the full, no, hey, this is great. I had wrestled Drew McIntyre, his last match before he came back, And I remember that that was always something I was so glad to do because I was trying to do something completely different out on the independent scene for me. I was trying to find something different, build a brand, build something that was outside of any company almost. I needed that. WWE, I mean, we're in the hallowed halls of the warehouse, but it was the house that built me.
1:07:08Steph McMahon:So all of these experiences were, I'm giving it to you from my perspective at WWE, good and bad. And now we work in the best version of WWE that it's ever been.
1:07:20Gunther:I agree to that.
1:07:21Steph McMahon:Yeah.
1:07:21Gunther:I would say. It's very... You got a complaint? No. No, I don't have any complaints. You can put them out here. No, no, no. Surprisingly. If I have a complaint, they know. Yeah, see? But I would say so. I feel like often once you get used to something, you don't see it for what it is. but I think I just talked about some media thing I did how diverse the roster is right now how many internationals there are, how many different styles of wrestlers there are on the roster it's really, WWE always felt like very one direction like that's the way to go and now I think there's many ways to where you can go, where you can make it to the top
1:08:08Steph McMahon:Well speaking of the top and where you go The most important thing you said about where you're going. And I know I kind of asked you how you felt, and we even talked a little bit about what's next, and maybe you mentioned something growing into the position you have. But right now, the conversation in our industry, all of our industry, is about you. Right now, I don't think he'll mind. I had Marty Miller from production on my bus the other day having a libation or two and he right in front of me and i'm on this roster said he's the man he's the man he kept saying it to the point where i want to be all right take it easy all right marty all right you know like but he kept saying it and i thought so in that in that uh in that vein coming on to tv after beating john cena and letting the world know how you felt and that as you said he he tapped out and smiling and smiling a great deal and really letting the whole world know you did what you said you were going to do how does it feel is there someone else in the crosshairs or are you in the crosshairs of everyone else now because again you may not know this and I again in the spirit of this conversation straight up many guys at the ring now look at you and say cool i want to be the one to get the receipt i want to be the one to to to pull the tyson for ali i want to be the one to come back there's also a whole young generation yes of people who are mad they don't even know how to process how mad they are what's what's on what's
1:09:46Gunther:on your plate or are you fielding the offers now uh see no not really it's like whoever is there is there kind of and I take it from there but you touched like on the there's a whole younger generation out there too where it's like because obviously you review your position in the company and all of that stuff and it's like what is there and obviously there's like Roman the tear for long and Brock that I did spot for such a long time I feel like where I want to get to is like be able to get into that spot but then wrestle Ilya in that position and have great matches with Braun down the line in that position have great matches with Oba there's many more of them and I feel like that's what I want to get to I want to be the guy that is going to be able to wrestle all of them have great matches with all of them and kind of like contribute that way I'm not really a person where and that's why I like my role and how I do it where it's like I don't have that in me to be wanting to be the guy that's at the very mountaintop and everybody looks up to him and kind of like so I admire you sometimes for what you do because I couldn't I would not be able to have that much fan interaction to have that much media interaction and all of that and you do it really good and I don't know that's not for me but I still want to I don't know I want to be at the top, but in a different role and contribute that way.
1:11:24Steph McMahon:And it's the wrestling industry. I was taught this many years ago. The reason we shake hands at nausea and backstage is because we need one another. The marquee says two names. John Cena's retirement match wasn't against nobody. We are relying on one another, and I think we do it differently. but in the spirit of transparency and being the man, hoping that I can be the man and just wanting to be. However you do it, different or not, good luck to you, and I look forward to it. Cheers. Cheers. Thank you. Cheers. That is actually a very tasty drink. Bailey's a good bartender. Very good. And Wheatley American Vodka.
1:12:07Steph McMahon:We do love them.
1:12:11Gunther:So we need one of each other. You said that it's 100 % true. I just had an interview too. It's like that whole pro wrestler, sports entertainer, blah, blah. And I said, no, I'm glad like all the other guys are there like Jey Uso or like John is the way he is and stuff like that. Because otherwise I couldn't exist. Like if everybody would be like me, yeah, I wouldn't stand out. Then that would be a big issue. So it's good. It's good the way it is. And, yeah, like you said, we need one another.
1:12:44Steph McMahon:I didn't ask about Jay. Yeah. Because, yeah, I won't ask about Jay. What? It's been a pleasant conversation. No, you and Jay and WrestleMania. Oh. It is a moment and spot and position we had not seen you in. Yeah. And it's still something that the crowd brings forward. Oh, they do. And right now you can ride high because... Right now I can ask, who tapped out now?
1:13:11Gunther:That's the question. Yes, you can. Very good. But now with Jay, like at that moment, that's the thing. I'm not a... How should I say? I can swallow my pride. And when it's over, it's over. I have no issue with that. The audience used it as weakness, then let them be. It's all right. Okay. It is all right. Nope. Okay.
1:13:39Cody Rhodes:This isn't about hype or luck. It's about optimization, living stronger, thinking more clearly, and performing better every day. At Game Day Men's Health, that's the standard. Game Day Men's Health helps men improve testosterone, energy, and performance with real testing and face-to-face visits. They help men reach their full potential with science-backed care, from testosterone optimization to peptide therapy and performance support with personalized treatment plans. With over 400 clinics across North America, Game Day Men's Health has got you covered. No long waits, no online guesswork. When life demands you be at your best, every day is Game Day.
1:14:16Cody Rhodes:Learn more or book your visit at gamedaymenshealth.com.
1:14:22Steph McMahon:good friend of mine and probably john cena's i think they even did a little package describing this but kind of the gordon solely how gordon solely was to dusty roads is always how michael cole has been to john cena uh the the analysis the announcer the commentator and the wrestler itself i'm curious did you hear his comments on commentary upon you defeating john cena did you hear what he said i did yes and he said uh correct me if i'm wrong he said sports entertainment is dead he said sports and that's uh pro wrestling beat sports entertainment pro wrestling beat sports entertainment uh do you feel a certain way about that yeah thought it was really cool
1:15:08Gunther:it's like uh because my like my whole time before wb the whole monica of the group back then ring Kampf was always like against sports entertainment, professional wrestlers. Yeah. That whole spiel. So to actually see that making it to this moment, that was very, what's the word for it? Very, it was a big confirmation. Yeah. For myself. Validation. Validation.
1:15:34Steph McMahon:You were validated. Yes. Will the sports entertainment get to try again? They will. I bet they will try again. Yeah.
1:15:43Gunther:Because I'm the only pro wrestler here. Just joking. There it is.
1:15:49Steph McMahon:Just joking. Absolutely. This blood, sweat, and causing tears brought to you by Wheatley American Vodka, which they're on fire lately. Myself and Wheatley, we like to think of ourselves as the American dream team, the bottles, the bus, all the fun stuff. And the question becomes, who is on your dream team? and I'll go ahead and say don't feel like you got to pick three, four, five. We've kind of kept it as maybe a war games team. Okay. If you want to limit the numbers because we've also had animals and whole sports teams and people have taken this question and really run with it. Who is on the ring general Gunther's team?
1:16:28Steph McMahon:So stick to a team of five? Yeah, that's fine. We'll do that.
1:16:32Gunther:Yeah, we'll do that. So obviously Kaiser.
1:16:36Steph McMahon:Yes.
1:16:38Gunther:I would take Ilya.
1:16:39Steph McMahon:Okay.
1:16:41Gunther:Two more, right?
1:16:42Steph McMahon:It's a real international affair right now.
1:16:43Gunther:Is it actually, like, what are we talking, like right now or overall?
1:16:47Steph McMahon:No, your overall. Okay.
1:16:49Gunther:The makeup of you. Would still go with those two. Yeah. I have to take Kenta Kobashi.
1:16:57Steph McMahon:Oh, my gosh. This is a great team.
1:17:00Gunther:The last one, I would say Stan Hansen, but then on the other hand, I'm already there. We don't need another. You don't think you need to? We don't need another big guy.
1:17:10Steph McMahon:We need somebody different. Wow. You're decisive. Okay. Yeah. Discerning. Okay.
1:17:16Gunther:I think it would maybe take Fit Finley.
1:17:18Steph McMahon:Oh, wow. So Fit, Ilya, Marcel, Yu, Kobashi. Yes. Wow. That's us. It's a great team. I think so. Yeah, that is, they're not doing many jobs, if any.
1:17:32Gunther:I think it would be a good team at the bar after, too.
1:17:34Steph McMahon:It is a solid bar team as well. Very solid. Speaking of the bar, our friends at Wheatley have this jingle, and I'm going to have you watch it, and I will ask if you can replace one of the words in it. Oh, my gosh. We've had some great answers, non-answers, all the things, but the jingle is beautiful. Here you go. Wheatley is so good, I drink it. Wheatley is so good, I drink it.
1:17:59Cody Rhodes:I watch in Moscow always get the mule. Vodka this good is an American jewel. Wheatley is so good, I drink it.
1:18:08Steph McMahon:sweetly so good I drink it and instead of neatly what would you replace neatly with you just asked a less the least creative guy in that room well one thing that's a little you know I wouldn't say hack a little thing you can always do is you speak multiple languages we you could provide something that we all as Americans in this room think oh that was the sexiest thing I ever heard and who Who knows what it means? Sadly, I speak German, not French.
1:18:40Gunther:German doesn't sound very sexy. Weekly is so good. I drink it. Weekly. Weekly? Yeah. There you go. I think it's a good balance. Send a message for balance as well.
1:18:52Steph McMahon:Yeah. Not every day. This is something you're doing weekly. It's not every day. Yes. Yeah. If the doctor asks you, how often are you having weekly? Weekly. It's weekly. It's so good. I drink it weekly. Here we go. Ladies and gentlemen, on What Do You Want to Talk About, round of applause. Gunther! Thank you. You good? Yes. You did so much fun.
From the publisher
Gunther sits down with Cody Rhodes to talk about retiring John Cena, his Austrian roots, who in WWE he’d like to face and more. A WWE and Fanatics Original Production, presented by WWE 2K26.
Pre-Order WWE 2K26 King of Kings, Attitude Era, or Monday Night War Editions to get up to 7 days Early Access, starting March 6 https://wwe.2k.com/2k26/iFo4gus62tf/?utm_source=Fanatics&utm_medium=CPM&utm_campaign=WWE-W26-ACQ-AWR-USA_F26.
Use Paze with code PAZEPERKS for 30% off at Fanatics until March 31, 2026: https://www.fanatics.com/pazepromo.
Text CODY42 to 4-THE-PEOPLE (484-373-6753) & Enter for a chance to win $2,000 + 2x WrestleMania 42 Tickets.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.




