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Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell recently spoke about the Intercontinental Championship clash between Gunther and Ricochet this week on SmackDown.
The One and Only grabbed the momentum in the initial stages of the match. However, the Austrian Anomaly came back strong with some vicious chops on the high-flying superstar. The Ring General finally planted Ricochet with a massive Powerbomb to pick up the victory and claim the prestigious title.
In the latest episode of Smack Talk, Mantell spoke about how we thought Ricochet might be winning when he kicked out of a near fall. The veteran hoped WWE would capitalize on Gunther's momentum and continue to push him in his dominant run on the main roster:
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"It was a good match. And I thought for a minute, just for a second, that they put Ricochet over. And I thought that's a mistake that he kicked out. They fooled me. But that Gunther is on a roll. Just talked about it a few minutes ago. I hope they don't mess that up becuase they've got something with that guy. Just keep him alive and do something good with him." (from 25:04 to 25:32)
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You can watch the full video here:
You can catch the full SmackDown results from this week here.
Gunther took some pictures with the Intercontinental Championship after SmackDown
After the bout, the new Intercontinental Champion and his associate Ludwig Kaiser posed for the cameras for a unique photoshoot. WWE released an official video depicting behind-the-scenes vignettes of the session.
This win marks the first title for The Ring General on the main roster. He was earlier the NXT UK Champion and held the gold for a historic title reign spanning 870 days. He later lost the Championship to Ilja Dragunov at NXT TakeOver 36 in a hard-hitting brawl.
The IC title hasn't featured in a premium live event since WrestleMania 37. It'll be interesting to see if the Austrian bruiser's reign on the blue brand can restore some of the lost glory of the Intercontinental Championship.
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