Gunther Mocks Stephen A Smith Over Goldberg GOAT Claim

Gunther was a guest on ESPN First Take and discussed his upcoming match with Cena, which takes place at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. But he also took a look at Smith's ranking of his five best wrestlers in history, and he was in disbelief to see Goldberg ranked at the top of the list.

The Austrian heavyweight responded:

"What's that number one? Goldberg? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody put him number one on their favorite wrestler’s list."

Smith explained that he "loves" Goldberg to which the former World Heavyweight Champion replied:

"I loved chocking him out, I tell you this, I enjoyed that."

Gunther was alluding to his match against Goldberg at Saturday Night's Main Event back in July when he made the legendary wrestler pass out with a sleeper hold. The 58-year-old then bid farewell to pro wrestling while the WWE RAW star went on to lose his World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam.

Goldberg is a polarising name when judging the best wrestlers of all time because many question his in-ring abilities. Triple H was equally as surprised to see him top of Smith's list when his ranking was unveiled back in September.

WWE's chief content officer said:

"Goldberg at number one because he knows that is the name that is gonna piss off the maximum amount of people. That's all time, putting Goldberg at one. I'm not gonna say that he's not great, I love Bill, he's a great performer, he had great moments in this business. But putting him at one? Come on."

Goldberg spent his career booked as an unstoppable monster who went on a 173-match unbeaten streak in WCW in the late nineties. He was also successful in WWE, winning three world titles before retiring earlier this year.

Gunther Takes Aim At John Cena's Jorts

Gunther also took the opportunity to hype up his match with Cena by ridiculing the 17-time world champion's jorts which he has worn for the majority of his career. He suggested that they don't belong in pro wrestling:

"I just remember when I started wrestling, 20 years ago now, I remember that I hated that guy in jorts on TV week by week. I always thought it doesn’t belong in the ring. I’m a big purist. I’m a big traditionalist, and I said it on Monday. John Cena is definitely the greatest sports entertainer of all time, but I’m the greatest professional wrestler there is right now."

Gunther has the honor being Cena's final opponent after winning the Last Time is Now tournament with a victory over LA Knight in the final. He has been one of WWE's most dominant stars this year and his win over Goldberg came amid a second reign as World Heavyweight Champion.