8 Things You Didn't Know About WWE Wrestler Gunther's Time On The Indies

The current WWE Intercontinental Champion and The Ring General of the Imperium faction, Gunther, is one of the hottest wrestlers in pro wrestling at present. WWE is making sure to push Gunther as an unbeatable superstar, and he fits in that role to perfection and has been holding on to the Intercontinental Championship for over 323 days.

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Gunther has been in the pro wrestling business for over 16 years and competed extensively in the independent circuit before he made it to WWE in 2019. With that said, let's take a look back at Gunther's career and see nine things fans might not know about Gunther's time on the independent circuit.

8 Started His Career in wXw

Gunther started training to become a professional wrestler and made his in-ring debut in 2005 in the Austrian independent circuit. But he moved to Germany to go further in his career and joined the Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) promotion in 2007.

It was there Gunther performed for most of his in-ring career as he continued his association with the promotion until 2020 before he went on to take a full-time schedule in WWE and reach the position he's in today.

7 Went By Different Names Throughout His Time In The Indies

Like many wrestlers, Gunther also went by different names while competing across the global independent circuit. He first went by the name Big Van Walter during his early days in the Austrian circuit and went on to use many names like Big Daddy Walter, Walter, Pater Walter, Man Mountain Walter, and Gha-cha-ping throughout his time competing in the indies.

He used the name Walter when he made his WWE debut and worked under the same name throughout his time in NXT UK, where he enjoyed his lengthy NXT UK Championship reign and slowly established himself to the global WWE audience.

6 His Work In Japan

Japan is one of the hottest destinations for professional wrestling due to the level of opportunity they could receive over there competing for promotions like New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Gunther also tried his luck in the Land of the Rising Sun and competed for the Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Zero1 in 2007. Gunther trained under wrestlers like Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Tomohiro Ishii during that time and improved his skills.

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He competed in a joint event hosted by New Japan Pro Wrestling and Revolution Pro Wrestling that took place in London in 2018 but never got the chance to make his proper debut for the NJPW.

5 Tag Teams & Stables

Gunther has been leading the Imperium faction alongside Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci right from their time together in NXT. Likewise, The Ring General has been a part of various tag teams and factions throughout his time in the independent circuit.

The Catch Hoolz in wXw was the first faction Gunther was a part of in his career, and Sami Callihan was also a part of the group. He then became part of the Mind faction in the same promotion, which had wrestlers like Malakai Black in the mix.

He was also part of the Ringkampf faction, which also included his current Imperium partner Ludwig Kaiser. He then was a member of the Schadenfreude stable, which consisted of the likes of Timothy Thatcher and Jonathan Gresham.

4 He Was Also The Head Trainer At wXw

His long association with the Westside Xtreme Wrestling promotion saw Gunther take on the role of the Head Trainer later on in his career. He helped to train over ten candidates during his time in the promotion, and many of them are still competing across the independent circuit.

He spent a considerable amount of time in wXw even after becoming a part of NXT UK, as WWE continued him and his colleagues to compete in the independent circuit while they were still under contract.

His association with wXw came to an end after Gunther moved to the USA to become part of the WWE main roster, where he is currently dominating his competition as the reigning Intercontinental Champion.

3 Used To Work At A Meat Factory

Many wrestlers used to work side jobs to earn additional income to support themselves and their families while they continued to perform and train in the independent circuit.

RELATED: 10 Current Wrestlers Who Have A Side Job While Still Wrestling

Gunther was no different as he, too, worked various jobs during the early stages of his career. He used to work at a meat factory earning €5 per hour and also worked at a food logistics company, where he was the manager and had an office of his own. He left that job as he climbed the ladders in the pro wrestling industry, and the rest, they say, is history.

2 His Accolades

Gunther is currently enjoying a dominant run as the reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion and is nearing the one-year mark with the title. He's put on banger after banger against the likes of Sheamus and Drew McIntyre during the reign, and to think of it, he's simply replicating the success he enjoyed while competing in the indies.

Throughout his time in the indies, Gunther has won the PWG World Championship, Progress World Championship, and the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship and had lengthy runs with other tag team and mid-card titles as well.

1 Didn’t Want To Join WWE At First

A superstar of his caliber could've made it to major promotions like WWE at a very early stage in his career, but Gunther stated that competing for the WWE was not on his bucket list at all as he was not interested in moving to the USA. While many wrestlers who shared the ring with him during that period tried their luck by moving to the USA, Gunther stayed in the European independent circuit.

Fortunately for him, Triple H's efforts to expand into the UK market saw WWE creating the NXT UK brand, where Gunther had a successful run, which eventually changed his mind and made him become a full-time member of the WWE main roster.