Jim Ross, the man known as the voice of wrestling, has described Gunther’s performance in the Royal Rumble as “the MVP of that show”.
Gunther set a new record in traditional 30-man Royal Rumble matches, lasting one hour, eleven minutes and twenty five seconds, beating a record that had previously been held since 2006 when Rey Mysterio clocked up sixty two minutes and fifteen seconds.
The Intercontinental Champion walked into the 2023 Men’s Royal Rumble as the very first entrant. His record breaking time spent in the match led to multiple highlights including revisiting a recent feud with Sheamus and a face off with Brock Lesnar, leaving the crowd in awe.
Whilst the Ring General survived until the very end, he was eliminated by a returning Cody Rhodes who is now on his way to face Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Wrestlemania.
Gunther Got Over In Hell Of A Night for Jim Ross
Jim Ross, however, claims that despite not winning, Gunther’s performance was the stand out of the night.
Speaking on his Grilling JR podcast, Ross feels that Gunther is on his way to great success after delivering in front of the WWE fans:
“He’s a freak, and [he] had a hell of a night, no doubt about it. Probably the best night of his career ever. It’s arguable to say that Gunther was the MVP of that show because he went well over an hour. But he’s a lean, mean fighting machine, there’s no doubt about that. So hat’s off to him as well. It’s just great to see wrestlers having the opportunity on a major stage to succeed, and their effort dictates their success. If that is true, which I believe it to be, Gunther had a hell of a night. He had a very successful night, even though he didn’t win. It’s one of those classic situations where the guy that goes over doesn’t always get over, and in this scenario, I fully believe that Gunther got over, even though he didn’t win the Rumble. So he’s an interesting prospect. I would expect great things for him, especially after Saturday night,”
Whilst discussing the 35th edition of the Rumble, Jim Ross confirmed he will be congratulating Cody Rhodes and that he felt he was the right choice to win.
“I thought it was an amazing production. It looked great, sounded good on my TV. So it was an interesting event. Certainly [I’ll] congratulate Cody Rhodes for winning it. It’s not a huge surprise, but does that matter? He was the right guy for the job. Now he’s gonna be able to help the company build their way to WrestleMania in a few weeks.”
H/t to Fightful