The Hoky Tonk Man is not bothered that his long-standing record in WWE will be imminently broken by GUNTHER.
Friday, September 8th 2023 will be the day when GUNTHER is officially recognised as having the single longest reign with the Intercontinental Championship in WWE, surpassing the Hall of Famer.
The Ring General acknowledged the achievement on the September 4th episode of Raw, where he defeated Chad Gable in the main event of the show to clear the final hurdle on the way to the record. While GUNTHER has stated that he was not surprised that he achieved the accolade, what does the soon-to-be former record holder think?
As published in issue 36 of Inside The Ropes Magazine, Keith Elliot Greenberg caught up with the former Intercontinental Champion during SummerSlam weekend. When asked about the record being in danger, the Hall of Famer gave an amusing response:
“I don’t give a s**t. I don’t work for those guys anymore. They can do whatever they want.”
The Honky Tonk Man continued, stating that he is more than the lengthy title reign and that he will be remembered more for the character he portrayed than his life outside of the squared circle:
“When I die, no one will say Wayne Ferris died. Nobody knows who the hell Wayne Ferris is. They’ll say The Honky Tonk Man died. I’ll always be The Honky Tonk Man.”
The Honky Tonk Man’s Historic Intercontinental Championship Reign
The Hall of Famer’s record-breaking run began on June 13th 1987 when he defeated Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat on an episode of Superstars of Wrestling to capture the title. As the championship could not change hands via cont-out or disqualification, The Honky Tonk Man would use this tactic frequently in his title defences.
The lengthy reign would come to an end at the first-ever SummerSlam in 1988, which saw The Ultimate Warrior squash the champion in 31 seconds to bring the 454-day reign to an end.
If you use any quotes from this article please credit Inside The Ropes.
Issue 36 of Inside The Ropes Magazine can be purchased here.