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A former champion has lost a lot of weight recently and it is reported that he was told to do so because Vince McMahon prefers slim wrestlers on television. The man in question is Gunther. On Friday, the powerhouse arrived on the blue brand, accompanied by Ludwig Kaiser, formerly known as Marcel Barthel.
Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser, formerly known as Marcel Barthel, joined SmackDown. Even though Gunther has been a major singles star in NXT UK as well as NXT, he has been repackaged as part of a tag team with Kaiser. In NXT, Gunther led the team of Barthel and Fabian Aichner while performing as a singles star himself.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer revealed that Gunther was originally set to be a singles star on the main roster but plans changed. He said that Gunther was asked to lose weight and he agreed.
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''Vince wants slim people on TV. I could see from the Vince perspective, telling the guy, ‘Hey, drop 30 pounds,’ right? I thought what made him special was the idea that he’s a 290-310 pound guy who can fly around and can move and hits really hard and looks like a powerhouse and now he’s just a 6’3” guy,” said Meltzer. (H/t:Wrestlingnews.co)
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Will Vince McMahon push Gunther?
It had been rumored that Vince McMahon was high on Gunther when he worked in NXT UK. However, major changes have been made to his appearance and name. According to Dave Meltzer, it is indeed surprising not to see Gunther being pushed as a singles star.
“It’s interesting that they’re going with them as a tag team and not Gunther as a single, which surprises me greatly. Especially because the original plan was separate brands. And then, the other one is if they were going to do the tag team they kind of like aced out Aichner,'' said Meltzer. (H/t:Wrestlingnews.co)
WALTER was one of the biggest names in the UK wrestling scene before he joined NXT UK. After a dominating run on NXT, it will be interesting to see how he is treated on SmackDown.
