Three Ways WWE Can Utilize ‘The Ring General’ at WrestleMania 42
WWE’s biggest stars continue to be announced for WrestleMania 42, but there is one name that hasn’t been heard in weeks: ‘The Ring General’ Gunther. The man who retired Goldberg, John Cena, and A.J. Styles in less than one year has not been mentioned for the WrestleMania card. Given that Gunther is a major star and has the accolades to back it up, it’s surprising that there are no plans set for Gunther at WrestleMania. WWE could still plan something out for him, but what could Gunther realistically do at WrestleMania so that he doesn’t remain off the card?
The first option for Gunther is for him to have his rumored match against Rey Mysterio to be announced. The plan was for Gunther to destroy Dragon Lee, which would lead to Mysterio coming out and helping his lucha brother. Gunther would be upset that another wrestler has stepped up to him, leading to him calling out Mysterio for a match at WrestleMania. With Mysterio still dealing with an injury, this seems to be the reason why their possible match hasn’t been announced yet. Since WrestleMania is still a few weeks away, there is still time for Mysterio to recover and have the match announced by then. If Mysterio isn’t able to recover on time, then WWE would have no choice but to pivot with their plans.
Another route WWE can go with Gunther is having him interrupt the Hall of Fame class being presented, particularly one of the inductees. Styles lost his final WWE match to Gunther at Royal Rumble 2025, forcing him to retire from in-ring competition. A few weeks later, Styles was announced as the next inductee in the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame class. Gunther is known for disrespecting others, even if they are wrestling legends. Gunther could easily interrupt Styles as he is being introduced to the crowd and cut a promo on Styles. This could lead to Gunther cutting a promo about the disrespect he has despite retiring three legends in the span of one year. Gunther would continue his rant and then be suddenly interrupted by a returning Chris Jericho, who is rumored to join WWE for one final run. This gives Gunther a storyline while also introducing Jericho back into the WWE umbrella.
The final way that WWE can use Gunther at WrestleMania is to have him interrupt the start of the show and call out WWE for not having anything planned for him on the biggest show of the year. The sheer anger and disappointment in Gunther won’t allow him to continue the show until he is treated with the respect that he deserves. This could lead to Gunther issuing an Open Challenge to anyone who wants to step up to ‘The Ring General.’ The challenge would be answered by Ilja Dragunov, one of Gunther’s biggest rivals in his WWE career. The two men square off in the ring, giving Gunther a proper match at WrestleMania and rekindling an amazing rivalry.
With the year that Gunther has had, it would be shocking if he didn’t have any sort of involvement on The Grandest Stage of Them All. Gunther is a main-event level talent, but with both main events seemingly confirmed for Las Vegas, moving Gunther down the card isn’t a bad idea. However, Gunther being entirely off the card with nothing to do seems criminal for WWE to do to ‘The Ring General.’ Gunther’s presence has to be made at WrestleMania, no matter where he is on the card.
