WWE star Gunther recently appeared on the Out of Character with Ryan Satin podcast for an in-depth conversation about all things pro-wrestling. During the discussion, Gunther was asked his thoughts of his name being changed from WALTER to Gunther when he came to SmackDown:
“Walter is my real name. From the side of the company, it makes a lot more sense if you actually can have some ownership on the name of an athlete that you present or put out there to an audience. I kind of expected it, but it was fine for me.”
Gunther also commented on his weight loss:
“I lost about 60 or 65 pounds. I always loved the look of the big Japanese heavyweights like Stan Hansen, Terry Gordy, Vader, Scott Norton, like those chunky foreign heavyweights. I always loved the look and I always thought that look really suited my style. There was never any big reason for me to be like, ‘Okay, let’s change that.’ Also, nobody ever said that to me either. When I was signed, I was around that size and nobody ever saw it as an issue. It just fitted me.”
“But now there was always this thing of change, too. I kind of knew moving over that I was going to change some stuff, even though I didn’t know exactly what it was. But I always thought like I have to do my part. I have to show that I’m adapting and I have to show that I put the work in for change. I think that was the most obvious choice.”
“Also, going forward, I knew I would be on the main roster. It’s a national television show that’s seen not just by wrestling hardcore fans. It’s seen by everybody, regular people. Looking like I look now, I will be more appealing and stand out more than looking like I looked the way before because I think in the context I was performing before, I think I got taken serious and got away with being a serious competitor like that. But I think if you’re in the top league on national television every week and you want to represent the top tier athletes, you have to be in shape to do so.”
You can listen to the podcast below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
