{"id":144386,"date":"2025-10-21T06:30:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T10:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=144386"},"modified":"2025-10-21T01:11:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T05:11:20","slug":"gunther-should-return-wwe-friday-night-smackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/10\/21\/gunther-should-return-wwe-friday-night-smackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Gunther Should Make His Return on WWE SmackDown"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve watched Monday Night Raw recently, you\u2019ve probably noticed a glaring omission from the shows. Gunther hasn\u2019t been seen since his World Heavyweight Championship match against CM Punk at SummerSlam. Punk beat him, ending a 53 day reign that started when he beat Jey Uso on Raw. That was his second reign with the championship. He initially won it at SummerSlam last year but lost it back to Uso at WrestleMania 41 after a 258 day reign.<\/p>\n

People have probably been fearing the worst since his absence has been noticeable. But he hasn\u2019t been benched or facing creative bankruptcy. Nose surgery has made him miss the last two and a half months of competition. He\u2019s been out for a while, so speculation should be ramping up about his return. When that happens, a return to SmackDown will help him as well as the brand.<\/p>\n

Gunther Moving to SmackDown Will Be a Fresh Start<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Over the past few weeks, SmackDown has undergone some major changes. Amidst criticism of the product and falling ratings, more writers were added to Road Dogg\u2019s team. Ilja Dragunov was supposed to return on Raw<\/a>. However, given the state of SmackDown, they decided to have him make his return there. They\u2019ve also added Kiana James and Sami Zayn since July. It\u2019s clear WWE knows that the blue brand is in a creative tailspin, so they\u2019re changing things to hopefully fix it.<\/p>\n

Gunther has been a mainstay on Raw since the 2023 WWE Draft. It\u2019s been two and a half years since he\u2019s been full time on Fridays. Additionally, with Ludwig Kaiser as El Grande Americano, a reunion with him isn\u2019t likely to happen. Gunther moving to SmackDown will help himself and the brand by injecting more star power into a flailing show.<\/p>\n

He Has Already Won Both Raw Branded Championships<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Gunther has been on the main roster for over three years now. His first year on the main roster was spent on SmackDown, where he won the Intercontinental Championship. Drafted to Raw in 2023, he took it with him. The other title on the show, the World Heavyweight Championship, was his until Punk won it at SummerSlam. He could return on Raw and get one of his championships back. However, with things floundering on SmackDown, his return could be another much needed change to the blue brand.<\/p>\n

He could go after Cody Rhodes\u2019 Undisputed Universal Championship. Rhodes handed him a loss for the Crown Jewel Championship last year at Crown Jewel, so another match would be much anticipated by the fans. Facing Dragunov for the United States Championship could also make fans happy. His rivalry with him in WXW and NXT deserves another chapter on the main roster.<\/p>\n

\"A
Photo Credit: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This Move Would Help SmackDown in a Big Way<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Gunther moving to SmackDown would seem like easy fantasy booking for some people, given his association with Dragunov. However, there are more logical reasons as to why this is being proposed. SmackDown hasn\u2019t been performing at its best. Ratings are down, and WWE is getting desperate to try and stop them from falling even lower. Since July, they\u2019ve added James, Zayn, and Dragunov to Fridays to peak viewer interest. Gunther hasn\u2019t been on Fridays since 2023. Adding another main event talent would majorly help them out.<\/p>\n

In addition, he has already won both championships contested on Raw. Instead of getting one of those championships back, he should chase gold that he\u2019s never won before. He could either face Rhodes for the first time in nearly a year or resume his rivalry with Dragunov. Either way, a move to SmackDown will definitely be a wise decision by him.<\/p>\n

More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n

Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a> for more on Gunther and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the significant news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n

You can check out WWE programming on\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Netflix<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Raw),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>USA Network<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>The CW<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(NXT),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Tubi<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Evolve),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>A&E<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Superstar Sunday \u2013 Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments), and\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Peacock<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Main Event, as well as archives and premium live event streaming). Follow WWE on social media to relive top moments and matches on\u00a0<\/i><\/em>YouTube<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>, and catch fast-paced action on X (<\/i><\/em>WWE Speed<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>).<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve watched Monday Night Raw recently, you\u2019ve probably noticed a glaring omission from the shows. Gunther hasn\u2019t been seen since his World Heavyweight Championship match against CM Punk at SummerSlam. Punk beat him, ending a 53 day reign that started when he beat Jey Uso on Raw. That was his second reign with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5338,"featured_media":144475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2192,26,4,3],"tags":[8238],"class_list":["post-144386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wrestling","category-smackdown","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-gunther"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5338"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144386"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144478,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144386\/revisions\/144478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}