The Intercontinental Champion’s absent from international premium live events now has an explanation.
For just over five hundred days, GUNTHER has reigned with the WWE Intercontinental Championship, defeating the likes of Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, and Chad Gable as he broke the record previously held by the Honky Tonk Man for the longest reign with the gold.
GUNTHER’s title defences have consistently stood out as some of the best matches across the entire promotion, and so it’s come as a surprise to many that he’s often been absent from WWE’s international PLEs. We now have an explanation for this, however, as during a recent interview with Austrian outlet Kronen Zeitung, it was revealed that he’s currently unable to leave the US for six months due to strict residence regulations.
“For the next six months, GUNTHER (his stage name), who lives in Orlando, is not allowed to leave the USA due to strict residence regulations, and is only allowed to perform within the States during this time.”
-Kronen Zeitung (Translation by Deepl)
Kronen Zeitung then noted that this means that GUNTHER will have more time for his wife Jinny, who announced her retirement due to injury earlier this year, prompting GUNTHER to jokingly respond that he’s only seen her for six days in October.
As a result of the travel restrictions, GUNTHER will be absent from tonight’s Crown Jewel show in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, although he’ll likely have no shortage of challengers in the coming months, will several names across the RAW roster queueing up for a shot.
