Walter Hahn (born 20 August 1987) is an
Austrian-born
professional wrestler. He is currently signed to
WWE, where he performs on the
Rawbrand under the
ring nameGunther (also stylized in
all caps). He is the leader of the
Imperium faction and is a former one-time and the longest reigning
Intercontinental Champion of all time. Known as "The Ring General" (
German: Der Ring General), he is known for his stiff wrestling style (characterized notably by his
chop strikes) and his
gimmick as a ruthless old-school European wrestling purist.
On
12 January 2019, Hahn made his surprise WWE debut as Walter, debuting at the end of the event to confront then-
NXT United Kingdom Champion (then WWE United Kingdom Champion)
Pete Dunne. After being confirmed to have been signed to WWE, he was aligned with the
NXT UK brand, and, subsequently, he won the NXT United Kingdom Championship at
NXT TakeOver: New York. Walter's 870-day reign, which concluded at
NXT TakeOver 36 against
Ilja Dragunov, was the longest for the now-defunct title, and is the eighth overall longest singles championship reign for any competitor in WWE history.[4]
In January 2022, Hahn moved over to the primary
NXT brand, where his ring name was changed to Gunther (initially Gunther Stark), before being promoted to the main roster on
SmackDown in April that year, where he won the Intercontinental Championship in June. His reign of 666 days set the title's record for both the longest singular reign and the most cumulative days as champion, whilst also being recorded as the tenth longest singles championship reign for any wrestler in WWE history.[4] The only champion that succeeded him in cumulative days during his reign was the
second reign of
Roman Reigns as
Universal Champion (1,316 days).
Walter and partner Robert Dreissker defeated RockSkillet (Jay Skillet and
Jonathan Gresham) to win the
wXw World Tag Team Championship at day three of 16 Carat Gold on 3 March 2013. They would later lose the titles in
Hamburg, Germany to Hot and Spicy (
Axel Dieter Jr. and Da Mack).[12] He partnered with Zack Sabre Jr. to win the vacant wXw World Tag Team Championship on 4 October 2015 in the finals of the 2015 World Tag Team Tournament, but relinquished the title at the wXw Fifteenth Anniversary Show on 12 December 2015, losing to Cerebrus (
Ilja Dragunov and Robert Dreissker). Walter and Ringkampf stablemate
Timothy Thatcher defeated Massive Product (
David Starr and Jurn Simmons) to win the wXw World Tag Team Championship in the finals of the 2017 wXw World Tag Team League on 8 October 2017.[13] On 11 March, WALTER and Thatcher lost the wXw Tag Titles to Da Mack and
John Klinger.[14] He was the head trainer at the wXw Wrestling Academy until early 2020.[15]
Progress Wrestling (2015–2019)
On 24 May 2015, Walter debuted as Big Daddy Walter in
Progress Wrestling at the 2015 Super Strong Style 16 Tournament at the
Electric Ballroom in London, losing to
Rampage Brown in the first round.[16] The two met again later in 2015 at Chapter 23: What A Time To Be Alive! in a match notable for the ring breaking after Brown was
whipped into the corner.[17] He entered the Super Strong Style 16 Tournament again in 2016, reaching the quarter-finals before being eliminated by
Chris Hero.[18]
Walter participated in the tournament to determine the inaugural
Progress Atlas champion in 2016 but he finished the tournament with 2 points.[19] At Chapter 47, Ringkampf (Walter, Axel Dieter Jr. and Timothy Thatcher) challenged
British Strong Style (
Pete Dunne,
Trent Seven and
Tyler Bate) for all of their championships, in a six-man tag team match, unsuccessfully challenging all of them.[20][21] He defeated
Matt Riddle to win the Progress Atlas Championship at Chapter 51: Screaming For Progress at the
O2 Academy Birmingham.[22] He lost the title to Riddle a little over a month later on a Progress card in
New York City,[23] but recaptured it at Chapter 55: Chase The Sun at
Alexandra Palace in a
three-way match that also involved Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher.[24] At Chapter 68: Super Strong Style 16 Tournament Edition 2018, Walter vacated the Atlas title in order to chase the Progress world title, held by Travis Banks. At Chapter 74: Mid Week Matters, he defeated Banks to win the title.
During the 2019's edition of Super Strong Style 16, Walter defeated Trent Seven in a title vs title match, winning Seven's Progress Atlas Championship.[25]
At Chapter 95: Still Chasing, Walter lost the Progress Unified World Championship when Eddie Denis successfully cashed in his title opportunity gained by defeating Mark Andrews at Chapter 76. This was a triple threat match also involving David Starr.
Evolve (2017–2019)
Walter debuted in
Evolve at Evolve 90 on 11 August 2017 in
Joppa, Maryland, defending the Progress Atlas Championship against
Fred Yehi.[26] Walter unsuccessfully challenged for the
WWN Championship the next night at Evolve 91 in New York City in a
four-way match that also involved Matt Riddle,
Keith Lee, and
Tracy Williams.[27] He again made an unsuccessful challenge for the WWN Championship on 9 December 2017 when he was defeated by Lee at Evolve 96 in New York City.[28]
In January 2018, Walter unsuccessfully challenged for the
PWG World Tag Team Championship with Ringkampf partner Timothy Thatcher, losing to the defending Chosen Bros (
Jeff Cobb and Matt Riddle). On 21 April 2018, Walter defeated champion Keith Lee and
Jonah Rock in a three-way match to win the
PWG World Championship.[32] Walter later lost the title to
Jeff Cobb on 19 October.
Defiant Wrestling (2018)
It was announced that Walter was going to be added to the Defiant Internet Championship match of David Starr against
Travis Banks at Lights Out. However, Banks did not compete due to a foot injury. Instead, Walter would later defeat Starr to become the #1 Contender for Banks' title,[33][34] which would end in a draw at No Regrets.[35] On 2 June, Walter defeated Banks and Zack Sabre Jr. to win the Defiant Internet Championship. On 30 December 2018, Walter lost the title to Martin Kirby.
On 12 January 2019 at
NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool, Walter made his
WWE debut for the
NXT UKbrand by confronting
WWE United Kingdom ChampionPete Dunne after Dunne's successful title defense.[36] The following week, Walter confronted Dunne and
Joe Coffey, making his intentions clear for Dunne's championship.[37] On the 30 January 2019 episode of NXT UK, Walter made his WWE in-ring debut against Jack Starz. He beat Starz in under four minutes.[38] At
NXT TakeOver: New York, Walter defeated Dunne to win the WWE United Kingdom Championship, ending Dunne's record-setting reign at 685 days.[39]
On the 22 May episode of NXT UK, Walter retained the United Kingdom Championship against Dunne in a rematch, after interference by the European Union (
Fabian Aichner and
Marcel Barthel), thus establishing himself as a heel[40] and reuniting Ringkampf under the new name
Imperium.[41] The faction would later be joined by
Alexander Wolfe, after he interfered in a match pitting Imperium against British Strong Style (the team of Dunne, Tyler Bate, and Trent Seven). On the 26 June episode of NXT UK, Walter retained his title against Travis Banks. On the 3 July episode, Imperium interfered in Moustache Mountain's title match against Grizzled Young Veterans, therefore making Grizzled Young Veterans retain their titles. After the match, they injured Tyler Bate. On 31 August at
NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff, Walter retained his title against Tyler Bate.
In the build-up for the NXT UK and
NXT co-branded event,
Worlds Collide, Imperium began feuding with
The Undisputed Era (
NXT ChampionAdam Cole,
Roderick Strong, and
NXT Tag Team ChampionsBobby Fish and
Kyle O'Reilly), which was further intensified during the closing moments of
NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II on 12 January 2020, when the group attacked Imperium following Walter's successful title defense against Joe Coffey.[42][43] During his reign the following week, the WWE United Kingdom Championship was renamed to NXT United Kingdom Championship and he was presented with a slightly updated belt design, which replaced the WWE logo at the center with the NXT UK logo.[44] On the 29 October episode of NXT UK, Walter retained the championship in a match against
Ilja Dragunov in another highly acclaimed match. On 19 February 2021, Walter became the longest-reigning NXT United Kingdom Champion, breaking Pete Dunne's record of 685 days.[45] On the 17 March episode of NXT, Walter would return to the NXT brand and decimated
Tommaso Ciampa. On 5 April, his championship reign surpassed the two-year mark. Two days later at Stand & Deliver, Walter retained his title against Ciampa.[46] The next day on NXT UK Prelude, Walter successfully defended his title against Rampage Brown. At
NXT TakeOver 36, Walter dropped the title to Dragunov in a rematch, ending his historic reign at 870 days (this would be the longest reign in WWE history since 1988 until
Roman Reigns surpassed this number with the
WWE Universal Championship in January 2023).[47]
At the
New Year's Evil special episode of NXT on 4 January 2022, Walter teamed up with Imperium stablemates Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel to face Riddle and MSK (Nash Carter and Wes Lee) in a six-man tag team match, which they lost.[48] After having his final match on NXT UK on 13 January where he defeated Nathan Frazer,[49] Walter was transferred to the NXT brand.[50] On 18 January episode of NXT, Walter defeated Roderick Strong in the main event, after which, he announced his new ring name as Gunther.[51][52] In mid-March, Gunther started a brief feud with
LA Knight when he took offense at the latter getting an NXT Championship match by calling out
Dolph Ziggler. The next week, after Gunther defeated
Duke Hudson, Knight challenged him to a match at
NXT Stand & Deliver,[53] which Gunther won.[54] On 5 April episode of NXT, he faced NXT Champion
Bron Breakker in a losing effort, which turned out to be his final appearance for the brand.[55]
On the 8 April episode of SmackDown, Gunther and Marcel Barthel (now known as Ludwig Kaiser) made their main roster debut, where Gunther defeated Joe Alonzo in a squash match.[56] On 27 May episode of SmackDown, Gunther and Kaiser made their debut as a tag team, defeating
Drew Gulak and
Intercontinental Champion Ricochet.[57] On 10 June episode of SmackDown, Gunther defeated Ricochet to win the Intercontinental Championship, making him the first Austrian to win the title.[58] He would successfully defend the title against Ricochet in a rematch[59] and
Shinsuke Nakamura.[60] Prior to Gunther's title defense at
Clash at the Castle on 3 September, Ludwig Kaiser announced the reformation of Imperium by reintroducing Fabian Aichner, now known as Giovanni Vinci. Gunther subsequently defeated
Sheamus to retain the title in a critically acclaimed match, with many deeming it the best match of the event.[61][62] Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter rated the match
five stars, marking Gunther's fifth match to receive five stars, and his first main roster match to receive this rating.[63] He would beat Sheamus in a rematch on 7 October episode of SmackDown.[64] Gunther spent the remainder of 2022 and the early months of 2023 retaining the Intercontinental Championship against
Rey Mysterio, Ricochet,
Braun Strowman, and
Madcap Moss in respective singles matches on various Smackdown episodes.[65][66][67]
At the
Royal Rumble on 28 January, Gunther was the first entrant and the last person eliminated from the titular match; he was eliminated by the match's winner
Cody Rhodes, who entered as the thirtieth and final participant. His 71 minute and 25 second performance was the
longest in the history of the annually-held event.[68] On 9 February, Gunther reached 245 days as champion, surpassing
Shelton Benjamin's reign of 244 days, becoming the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion in the 21st century. On 17 February, Gunther reached 281 days as Intercontinental Champion, surpassing WWE Hall of Famer
Mr. Perfect's reign of 280 days, giving him the longest reign as Intercontinental Champion in 34 years.[69] On Night 2 of
WrestleMania 39 on 2 April, Gunther retained the title against Sheamus and
Drew McIntyre in a critically acclaimed
triple threat match.[70] Before Gunther and Imperium moved to Raw, he successfully retained the Intercontinental Championship against
Xavier Woods on 21 April edition of Smackdown.[71]
As part of the
2023 WWE Draft, Gunther, along with his Imperium stablemates Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci, was drafted to the
Rawbrand.[72][73] In the coming months, Gunther successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against
Mustafa Ali at
Night of Champions on 27 May,
Matt Riddle at
Money In The Bank on 1 July, and Drew McIntyre at
SummerSlam on 5 August.[74] On 21 August episode of Raw, Gunther defended the title against
Chad Gable but lost the match by countout, ending his undefeated singles streak on the main roster;[75] however, as championships do not change hands by countout or disqualification unless otherwise stipulated, Gunther remained champion.[76] After defeating Gable in a rematch on 4 September episode of Raw, Gunther guaranteed that he would become the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion later that week, which he did, breaking
The Honky Tonk Man's record of 454 days.[77] Gunther went on to retain his title against
Tommaso Ciampa on the 2 October episode of Raw, and
Bronson Reed on the 16 October episode of Raw. On 25 November at
Survivor Series: WarGames, Gunther successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against
The Miz.[78] The next night on the 27 November episode of Raw, after earning the respect of Gunther, the Miz asked for a rematch for the title. Gunther went on to defeat The Miz in their rematch on the 18 December episode of Raw, which was his
last chance at an Intercontinental Championship match as long as Gunther is the champion.
On 27 January at
Royal Rumble, Gunther entered the Royal Rumble match at number 18, eliminating
Jey Uso,
Kofi Kingston and The Miz before being eliminated by the winner, Cody Rhodes.[79] The following Raw, Gunther successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Kofi Kingston.[80] Gunther defeated Jey Uso on 19 February episode of Raw to retain his title after interference from
Jimmy Uso.[81] On 20 February, Gunther's Intercontinental Championship reign set another record for the title, this time for most cumulative days as champion, surpassing
Pedro Morales, who held the title for 619 days across two reigns. Morales had held this record for 41 years.[82] At Night 1 of
WrestleMania XL, Gunther was defeated by
Sami Zayn for the Intercontinental Championship, ending his historic reign at 666 days. [83]
Championship pursuit (2024–present)
Gunther made his first WWE appearance since WrestleMania XL on the April 22 episode of Raw, when he announced he would partake in the
King of the Ring tournament.[84]
Hahn met English professional wrestler
Jinny Sandhu during their time on the independent circuit. They married in 2023,[88][89][90][91] and on 27 December 2023, they had their first child, a boy.[92]
^He originally won the title as the WWE United Kingdom Championship, but during his reign in January 2020, it was renamed as the NXT United Kingdom Championship.