Gunther's Nose Injury: WWE Provides Update After SummerSlam

An update on the injury was provided during the latest episode of Monday Night RAW. Michael Cole announced that the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion suffered a “septal hematoma and orbital blowout fracture” at SummerSlam and was going to be out indefinitely.

So unlike Seth Rollins’ “knee injury,” Gunther is actually hurt, and fans won’t be seeing him running down the ramp to try and get back his title. Rollins fooled a lot of people during Night 1 of SummerSlam. “The Visionary” milked a fake knee injury for three weeks until the title match ended, and he swooped in, ruining Punk’s dreams.

What Will Gunther Do When He Returns?

By the time Gunther returns to the ring, who knows if Seth Rollins will still be the champion (he probably will be) or if Gunther could just jump back into the waiting line of opponents? His first Heavyweight World Championship reign surprisingly didn’t happen until SummerSlam 2024, when he defeated Damian Priest to become the new champion. His reign lasted until he lost to Jey Uso at WrestleMania 41.

Though before that, Gunther was breaking title records and changing WWE history. He held the WWE Intercontinental Title for a total of 666 days. It cemented him as the longest-reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion in history. He broke the previous record of 454 days that was held by WWE Hall of Famer Honky Tonk Man. The previous record had been set since the late ‘80s.

Going back further into his WWE career, he wrestled under the ring name Walter on NXT UK. He held the NXT UK Title for 870 days. He broke Pete Dunne’s previous record of 685 days, and unless WWE brings back the brand, it’s safe to say nobody will be breaking Gunther’s record. The RAW Superstar has yet to hold the NXT Championship, the World Tag Team Titles, the United States Championship, or the WWE Undisputed Championship.

While a heavyweight title run is always great, it might actually be interesting to see Gunther back with Ludwig Kaiser and win tag team gold. Kaiser seems like he could use a little help from his former Imperium stablemate. Before he started to don the El Grande Americano persona in July, he was wrestling on the WWE Main Event brand. Whatever happens, Gunther is just too good to get lost in the shuffle.