Gunther explains why retiring former WCW star meant more to him than making John Cena tap out

Over the past year, Gunther has solidified his reputation as an indomitable force on RAW. This weekend, he is set to face Seth Rollins in a highly anticipated match at WrestleMania 42.

Between July 2025 and January 2026, The Ring General ended the careers of three wrestling icons: Goldberg, John Cena, and AJ Styles. He forced both Da Man and Styles to pass out using a sleeper hold, while Cena had no choice but to tap out to Gunther’s fierce submission move.

In an interview with WWE Retrospective, Gunther reflected on how AJ Styles made his mark outside WWE, having worked with major promotions like WCW, ROH, TNA Wrestling, and NJPW throughout his career.

“AJ is kind of different, where it’s like, you had Goldberg and John Cena. There was the WCW legend Goldberg, and then you have the guy that [sic] stands for WWE, and then you have AJ, who’s somewhat a little more similar to me when it comes to his career. He had a great run here, but a lot of the stuff that people love him for happened before WWE. He’s one of those guys, what I talked about before.”

The Austrian Anomaly further elaborated on why retiring Styles held more significance for him than making Cena submit in his last match.

“The generation in wrestling that I came up with, we looked up to guys like AJ Styles. I remember when he was in New Japan, we always watched his big matches there. They were fantastic and stuff. There was a time when I was really grinding and developing. There was stuff I would watch, so I always had so much respect for AJ’s work. (…) From the wrestler purist heart, that felt almost more important for [sic] me than the Cena match. But on-screen, being able to rub it in and try to ruin the last run he has, it was a lot of fun.” [H/T: WrestlePurists on X]

The Phenomenal One was part of WCW in 2001, focusing mainly on the tag team division featured on Thunder and Nitro.

Gunther made a deal with WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman

On the Road to WrestleMania 42, Seth Rollins confronted Paul Heyman for orchestrating his departure from The Vision last year. With Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed out due to injuries, Heyman had to face The Visionary alone.

While many anticipated Breakker’s return to seek revenge on Rollins at The Show of Shows, Heyman had a different strategy. He enlisted Gunther to eliminate the former Universal Champion. The Ring General’s attack on Rollins led Adam Pearce to schedule them for a singles match at ‘Mania. Fans are eager to see if Gunther will maintain his winning streak by potentially defeating Rollins in Las Vegas.