Sport

WWE needs to find an answer for its Gunther problem

Published

9 months ago

February 26, 2024

Raw airs tonight (Feb. 26) with a live show from SAP Center in San Jose, California. This is the first episode of Raw during the six week build towards WrestleMania 40, which takes place on the weekend of April 6 and April 7.

GUNTHER needs to find an opponent for WrestleMania 40

Most of the top heels in WWE already have a clear direction for WrestleMania 40, with the glaring exception of Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER.

The original plan was reportedly for GUNTHER to fight Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, but Brock was pulled from all things related to WWE in the aftermath of the Vince McMahon sex trafficking lawsuit, so that’s not happening.

So, who will step in as a replacement for Lesnar?

Jey Uso can probably be crossed off the list. GUNTHER beat him last week in a successful title defense; Jey should now be focused on getting revenge on his brother Jim for screwing him over yet again.

One of GUNTHER’s biggest threats from last year, Chad Gable, suddenly stands out as a possible WrestleMania opponent after his victory over Ivar last week. One issue here is that Gable has been pretty cold for most of 2024, so he might need more than one victory over Ivar to warrant a one-on-one title match at WrestleMania. Luckily for Chad, there are several episodes of Raw remaining to build him up for such a match.

Sami Zayn is a bigger star than Gable and would be a more suitable replacement for Lesnar. The main issue here is that Sami is on a losing streak, so in kayfabe he shouldn’t be sniffing a title shot until he can turn his luck around. He has a chance to do that tonight when he takes on Shinsuke Nakamura in a rematch from two weeks ago.

Could Omos be a substitute for Brock? A match between GUNTHER and Omos doesn’t sound like a great idea, but WWE might be looking for a way to fit him onto the WrestleMania card.

What about a SmackDown star, or someone who hasn’t been on TV in a while and is ready to return? For example, Sheamus has been off TV for six months now, and is a guy who had arguably the match of the year in 2022 with GUNTHER. Is there any chance the Celtic Warrior can return to WWE in time for WrestleMania and one more classic fight with the Ring General?

There’s no chance in hell that it’s Shane McMahon, right?

Could there be a multi-man match for GUNTHER’s belt at WrestleMania, with several of his past opponents like Bronson Reed, Kofi Kingston, The Miz, Gable, and Tommaso Ciampa joining the fray?

The bottom line is that most of WWE’s top stars already have a clear direction for WrestleMania, so we could find out as soon as tonight’s Raw who WWE is lining up for a match with GUNTHER.

The rest of the title scene

World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins has to defend his belt one more time against Drew McIntyre, this time at WrestleMania 40. Seth says he’ll be medically cleared any day now. Does that open the door for Damian Priest to cash in the Money in the Bank contract on him before WrestleMania, or will Drew once again look to stop Damian from doing that so he can have Seth all to himself?

Speaking of Priest, he and Finn Balor have amassed an impressive run of successful title defenses in the tag team division. Is this all leading up to a WrestleMania match where R-Truth gets the last laugh and finds a way to take the undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship from them? Would he do it with The Miz as his partner, or is there a chance that his childhood hero John Cena might be available for WrestleMania?

Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley eradicated Nia Jax in Australia and now has a WrestleMania date with Becky Lynch. This is arguably the biggest possible women’s match WWE can book right now, and the two stars should kick things off tonight with a promo battle in the middle of the ring.

WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns will put the gold on the line against Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania. After the Bloodline screwed Cody over in last week’s match against Drew McIntyre, Cody decided to challenge The Rock to a match anytime, anywhere. Will Cody and Seth have another chat about this situation tonight on Raw, while they wait for The Rock to return to TV later in the week on SmackDown?

Other stuff to keep an eye on

– The New Day and Imperium look to finally settle their issues tonight when they go at it in a Street Fight.

– Andrade seems to have a plan in mind for his path going forward now that he’s back in WWE. Will he let us know what it is in time for a match at WrestleMania?

– Jade Cargill didn’t sign a deal with Raw or SmackDown, and so she missed out on Elimination Chamber. She’ll have to make her mind up soon about which brand to join if she wants to compete at WrestleMania.

– Now that Raquel Rodriguez is back on WWE TV, will she once again join forces with Liv Morgan for another run at the WWE women’s tag team titles?

– Where the f*** is ~~Omos~~ Ricochet?

What will you be looking for on Raw?