Gunther explains the reason for his physical transformation when joining WWE’s main roster
While speaking to Enry Lazza, Gunther explained the reason for his physical transformation when joining WWE’s main roster…
“In my case, I never felt uncomfortable before anything. And my wrestling idols were always, like, the butcher-looking heavyweights from America that went to Japan and beat up all the Japanese babyfaces. They were all, as they call it, barrel-chested, little bit of a gut.
So, I always had that romantic thing for those guys because I watched it a lot and liked it. And I thought, like, ah, in that category, I’m one of them.
But obviously, WWE—we expanded so much, and now with Netflix, there’s such a different viewership on it and so much wider. So, I thought that’s going to be necessary.
So, when I went to the main roster, I made the call and I was like, ‘You know what? It’s time to change it up.’ Because there’s a difference—up until WWE, I only wrestled for hardcore wrestling fans that were diehards, basically, and they can understand. But in reality, for the major public, I would have looked like somebody out of shape and, doesn’t look like a champion.
So, I knew I had to adjust that and, uh, had to find a way to still stay myself but just give it a fresh look.
But I think what I was battling the most is like—in German, we have a word for that. It’s called Schweinehund, which is basically like a pig dog, as we call it. The inner pig dog that tells you that you have to fight all the time. That’s basically the devil that sits on your right shoulder that makes you do the wrong things.
I think that’s what I had to fight the most a little bit when it comes to discipline and stuff like that. But, uh, once you manage that and you beat him—you beat the Schweinehund, basically—then yeah, it becomes routine.”