Reeling from the events at “ King and Queen of the Ring ” in Jeddah, tonight’s RAW felt like a shift in eras. RAW was live from the EnMarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia, and opened with Gunther receiving his flowers. Introduced by the only other member of the Imperium left, Ludwig Kaiser, the men’s KOTR made his way to the ring sharply dressed in a suit with the crown in hand.
Sidebar: there was a concern that WWE would deck Gunther out in a “King gimmick,” something that is given to superstars after they win the KOTR (i.e., KING Macho, KING of Hearts Owen Hart, and Sheamus, to name a few), but thankfully Gunther’s perfect heel character has been left untouched.
Gunther came out and announced that he would get a shot at the WWE heavyweight champion, Damien Priest , a factoid that was missing heavily from the KQOTR lead-up—one of the biggest criticisms on social media from casual fans was, “the winner of KQOTR gets nothing, it should work like the Rumble.” GUNTHER IS GOING TO SUMMERSLAM! #WWERaw pic.twitter.
com/KcwrWWhwX1 — WWE (@WWE) May 28, 2024 Priest came out, and he was in rare form, even still, Gunther only upped his game. Priest hit the newly crowned KOTR with a promo that promised he’d teach Gunther a lesson, but not before he pointed out the legitimacy of his win over Randy Orton in the finals. Orton was dealing with a knee injury heading into the match, a plot point that would have hit harder if he’d wrestled more than once that night, and it.
