Add as a preferred source on Google GUNTHER, who will face Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship at Clash in Italy on May 31, revealed the names who most shaped his in-ring style.
Speaking with No-Contest Wrestling, The Ring General named Kenta Kobashi, Stan Hansen, Terry Gordy, Zack Sabre Jr., Daisuke Sekimoto, Timothy Thatcher and Ludwig Kaiser as his biggest influences.
“I would say the guys I watched were mostly European wrestlers, or guys who wrestled in Japan. Kenta Kobashi was always one of the guys I looked up to. Stan Hansen — I was a big Stan Hansen guy. Terry Gordy, those guys.”
“But I think what I really learned the most from was the guys I worked closely with over the years. My first really big matches in my career were with Zack Sabre Jr. back then, and Daisuke Sekimoto. Those were really long-lasting experiences for me, and we kind of grew together at the same time, even though they were a little bit ahead of me.”
“Then, later in my career, Timothy Thatcher joined, and he was somebody I was heavily influenced by. And then, obviously, my good friend Ludwig Kaiser. He’s somebody who has all this knowledge, and had all this knowledge passed down from his father, who was already a very, very successful wrestler in Germany and all over the world.”
As for Kaiser, GUNTHER had previously credited part of his development to his longtime partner, citing the knowledge passed down from Axel Dieter, the German wrestling legend who died in 2015.
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