Gunther to face 37-year-old star at WWE Backlash after World Heavyweight Title loss, says veteran

Modified Apr 23, 2025 20:18 GMT

Gunther lost the World Heavyweight Championship at WWE WrestleMania 41. Wrestling veteran Jonathan Coachman believes The Ring General will now square off with a 37-year-old star at the upcoming premium live event, Backlash.

Last Saturday, Gunther's 258-day World Heavyweight Title reign ended at the hands of the 2025 Men's Royal Rumble winner Jey Uso. Two days later, The Ring General launched a surprise attack on Michael Cole on Monday Night RAW. When Pat McAfee attempted to save his commentary partner, the former World Heavyweight Champion choked him out instead, forcing the ex-football player to leave the show to receive medical help.

While addressing the segment on the Behind The Turnbuckle: The Last Word podcast, Coachman pointed out that Triple H and his creative team are clearly setting up a match between Gunther and McAfee at Backlash:

"Clearly, they're gonna set up Gunther and Pat McAfee for a match at Backlash, I would think," he said. [28:59 - 29:04]

Pat McAfee warned Gunther after WWE RAW

On The Pat McAfee Show, the RAW color commentator addressed Gunther's attack on him and Michael Cole last Monday. He explained that he tried to defend his partner.

The 37-year-old WWE commentator pointed out that he has no idea what will happen next, but is ready for anything. Meanwhile, McAfee warned Gunther that he would not mess with Cole and get away with it:

"And if you think that choking me out is going to have me, you're wrong. You think you're going to bury me publicly, and I'm going to quit showing up. You're wrong. But I know you're not going to mess with Michael Cole and get away with it. I don't care how big, strong, intimidating, how good your rear naked choke is. I don't care about any of that. Okay? Michael Cole is a good man. We appreciate Michael Cole, and whenever you start attacking him, things like that are going to happen," he said.

McAfee last competed in a one-on-one match in April 2023 when he defeated The Miz at WrestleMania 39. It will be interesting to see if he returns to the WWE ring to go head-to-head with Gunther at Backlash.

Please credit Behind The Turnbuckle: The Last Word and give an H/T to Sportskeeda if you use the above transcription.

About the author

Ahmed Hamdy is an Egyptian journalist with a decade of experience in sports journalism, specializing in pro wrestling and football.

Hamdy kicked off his career as a sports reporter for Al-Ahram Weekly. He then became a producer/reporter for Mal Masr TV program on the Egyptian channel ON TV. In the following years, Hamdy worked as a reporter for several international news outlets, including Deutsche Welle (Germany), As-Safir (Lebanon), and Al-Monitor (U.S.A).

In 2014, Hamdy joined leading Egyptian newspaper Al Masry Al Youm, where he is now a Senior Sports Editor. In addition to all that, the Egyptian also worked as a sports editor for Sport360 and feature writer for Manshoor.com.

Hamdy has covered several sports events throughout the past few years, including WWE's tour in Egypt and the 2019 African Cup of Nations.

The experienced journalist joined Sportskeeda's pro wrestling feature writers team in early 2021. Since then, his work has managed to get millions of reads.

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Edited by Brandon Nell