Gunther reaches 500 days as WWE Intercontinental Champion
Gunther’s already record-breaking WWE Intercontinental Championship reign has reached a new milestone.
On Monday, Gunther’s title reign reached the 500-day mark. He celebrated the occasion with a post on social media:
500! pic.twitter.com/7B7zZ76CrW
— GUNTHER (@Gunther_AUT) October 23, 2023
Gunther’s title reign began when he defeated Ricochet on the June 10, 2022 episode of SmackDown. He’s made 17 successful televised title defenses since then. The most recent of those was against Bronson Reed on Raw’s season premiere episode last week.
This is the longest Intercontinental title reign in WWE history. Gunther surpassed Honky Tonk Man’s previous record of 454 days (recognized as 453 by WWE) this September. A victory over Chad Gable on the September 4 episode of Raw secured the record for Gunther.
Gunther and his Imperium stablemates are currently feuding with DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa). Gunther retained his IC title against Ciampa on the October 2 edition of Raw. Gargano returned to WWE television following that match, reuniting with Ciampa and saving him from an Imperium beatdown.
Last Monday, Ludwig Kaiser defeated Gargano. A distraction by Giovanni Vinci helped Kaiser win the match. But Gunther wasn’t happy with Vinci after. Gunther said that, with Gargano vs. Vinci taking place on Raw tonight (October 23), he wants to see Gargano leave on a stretcher.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.