On last night’s RAW, it was revealed that a Gauntlet match will take place next week to determine the challenger for Intercontinental Champion Gunther at WrestleMania 40.
6 Names were announced for the match, but it seems that two originally planned participants were removed.
The Gauntlet match will feature Ricochet, Chad Gable, Sami Zayn, Bronson Reed, Shinsuke Nakamura and JD McDonagh, with WWE hinting at several of these wrestlers as potential contenders for Gunther. However, the inclusion of McDonagh and Reed came as a surprise.
Last week, WWE appeared to be hinting at R-Truth and The Miz as potential challengers. Despite Miz and Truth’s presence on the show, they were not involved in the Gauntlet match announcement but rather featured in a segment playing video games.
According to the Wrestling Observer, WWE opted for different participants and prioritized wrestlers with stronger in-ring abilities, evident in the addition of Ricochet and JD, who have not been prominently featured recently.
While the specifics of the Gauntlet match remain uncertain, WWE seems to be strongly hinting that Sami Zayn and/or Chad Gable could be the ones challenging for the Intercontinental Title at WrestleMania XL.
Sami has cut promos in recent weeks on how he needs to be champion. On RAW, Sami defeated Ivar and got attacked by Bronson after the match.
On the other hand, Gable failed to defeated Gunther for the Title last year.
In a backstage segment on RAW, Gable said he’s going to take Gunther’s smile and put it on his daughter’s face at WrestleMania by ending The Ring General’s record-setting title reign.
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