Line #5 Awesome/Walter


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/walter_1.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: ''Der Ring General'' redefining prestige. Get ''extremely'' used to seeing this.]]
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4	!!Wrestling/PROGRESSWrestling:
5	* At Wrestling/PROGRESSWrestling's ''Chapter 51: Screaming For PROGRESS'', WALTER and Wrestling/MattRiddle waged absolute war for the Atlas Championship, ending with Matt Riddle submitting to WALTER.
6	* His match against Wrestling/ChrisHero at ''PROGRESS Super Strong Style 2016''.
7	* Him vs. Timothy Thatcher for the Atlas Championship at ''Chapter 62: Fear No More, Come To Dust'', just everything about it.
8	* WALTER and Wrestling/WillOspreay tore the house in two promotions: at Wrestling/DefiantWrestling's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIuiyypK1d8 Stacked '18]] and Over the Top Wrestling's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPTemrD73-w fourth anniversary show]]. Both matches feature a plethora of moments worth mentioning.
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10	!!NXT
11	* Appearing at the end of ''NXT UK [=TakeOver=]: Blackpool'' in order to let [[Wrestling/BritishStrongStyle Pete Dunne]] know about his intentions of getting the title. At one point, Joe Coffey, who failed to obtain the title that day, tried to enter the ring back, only for WALTER to dispatch him with a superkick.
12	* Finally finishing Pete Dunne's 609-day reign as WWE United Kingdom Champion at ''[[Awesome/WWENXTTakeOver NXT TakeOver: New York]]'' in a brutal battle that brought new meaning to the term "stiff fight".
13	* Him vs. [[Wrestling/BritishStrongStyle Tyler Bate]] at ''NXT UK [=Takeover=]: Cardiff'' for the former's WWE UK Title. The match became the third Wrestling/{{WWE}} match in history to [[Main/BrokeTheRatingScale break]] [[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter WON's]] [[Main/BrokeTheRatingScale five star rating system]] by Dave Meltzer rating it '''5.25'''.
14	* Him vs. Ilja Dragunov for the former's now-renamed NXT United Kingdom Championship. My god, they went to literal war, with WALTER absolutely destroying Dragunov, and receiving some nasty punishment as well. It's best described that WALTER literally had to "Drain the Life" of Dragunov with a sleeper hold in order to win. Dave Meltzer gave this match a 5 star rating.
15	** Their rematch at ''NXT Takeover 36'' is another literal war. And despite his 870-day reign as NXT United Kingdom Champion coming to an end, WALTER still made sure that Dragunov didn't left the ring in one piece. It BrokeTheRatingScale again by Dave Meltzer giving it '''5.25''' stars.
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17	!!WWE Main Roster
18	* Gunther winning the Intercontinental Championship from [[Wrestling/TrevorMann Ricochet]] in absolutely ''dominant'' fashion, becoming the first Austrian to win a major WWE main roster championship.
19	* And speaking of bringing new meaning to the term "stiff fight", Gunther's first truly tough challenge as IC Champion came at the hands of Wrestling/{{Sheamus}}, in their fight at ''Clash at the Castle'' on September 3, 2022. The match began with the return of Giovanni Vinci, the former Fabian Aichner, to the ranks of Imperium in order to offset Sheamus's fellow Brawling Brutes, Ridge Holland and Butch, as both men stared each other down motionlessly whilst their comrades fought off stage. Then the titans came to blows. As the fight waged on, Gunther's chops, not to mention the rest of his lethal offense, put Sheamus through paces of pain that literally punctured the skin of his chest, yet Sheamus' resiliency and warrior's pride enabled him to fight through the torture, give The Ring General nearly equal measure, and almost claim the title. In the end it took a massive ''Beheading'' lariat to put The Celtic Warrior away for three. Dave Meltzer considered it one of the greatest matches in WWE history and rated it five stars, making it the second WWE match that year to receive the rating.
20	* Gunther entering the 2023 men's Wrestling/RoyalRumble match at number one and holding out all the way until the final two is awesome on its own... but what makes this feat stand out is that he lasted over 71 minutes, breaking Wrestling/{{Rey Mysterio\|Jr}}'s 17-year old record of 62 for the longest time spent in a single 30-man Royal Rumble match[[note]][[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]]'s record of 76 minutes was during a ''50''-man Royal Rumble[[/note]], before being eliminated by the returning Wrestling/CodyRhodes, who would then go on to win the match as entry number 30.
21	* On February 6, 2023, Gunther reached 245 days as Intercontinental Champion, surpassing Wrestling/SheltonBenjamin's 244-day reign to become the longest-reigning champion in the 21st century.
22	* Another Gunther/Sheamus match, another five-star outing. The Intercontinental Championship match at [=WrestleMania=] Night 2 between Gunther, Sheamus and Wrestling/DrewMcIntyre was yet another hard-hitting monster of a match that saw Gunther retain.
23	* On June 10, 2023, Gunther became the fifth wrester to hold the Intercontinental Championship for a full year.
24	* On the September 4, 2023 edition of Raw, a successful title defense against [[Wrestling/AmericanAlpha Chad Gable]] cemented that he would break Wrestling/HonkyTonkMan's record as longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time.
25	* Proving that Gunther can get a near five-star match out of literally anyone, the October 16, 2023 edition of RAW saw him yet again retain his IC Championship in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFhCrKRAr60 a match against Bronson Reed]], a guy generally considered to be a good wrestler, but also an extremely straightforward one without much versatility. As with Sheamus the year before, Gunther and Reed compensated for this by beating the living ''piss'' out of each other until Gunther finally landed the powerbomb he had been setting up all match. The proviso on that last part, for the unaware: Gunther, at the time of the match, weighed in at an industry-typical 250 pounds, while Reed clocked in at ''330,'' and Gunther made it look like Reed was just about a ragdoll.
26	* Just in general, Gunther's reign as Intercontinental Champion. Running alongside another mythically-long title reign, that of WWE Undisputed Universal Champion Wrestling/RomanReigns, ''Der Ring General'' crafted a masterclass in how to make a long title reign not only interesting, but legendary. Across literally countless title defenses on both free television and pay-per-views, Gunther revitalized the Intercontinental Championship to a degree not seen since the days of Wrestling/RandySavage, pulling 4+ star matches out of literally every opponent he ever faced, including wrestlers generally not considered to be outstanding in the ring, such as Wrestling/TheMiz and the aforementioned Reed, and smashing milestone after milestone in the process. It is perhaps more telling than anything that fans considered Gunther, rather than World Heavyweight Champion Wrestling/SethRollins - one of the greatest of all time in his own right - to be the true secondary World Champion at the time, all because, quite simply, Gunther is just that goddamn good.
27	* On February 19, 2024, Gunther became the all-time longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion, upending Wrestling/PedroMorales for longest total time with the belt and finally and officially smashing the records of every IC Champion in history in just one reign. Even when he finally lost to Sami Zayn on April 7, 2024, many are glad that there is now nothing holding him back to become a future World Champion.

Context Awesome / Walter