Gunther Biography Debut To 2026

Gunther is a Wrestler

Gunther was born on August 20, 1987; he is an Austrian wrestler. His real name is Walter Hahn, and he currently performs on WWE Raw, where people know him by the name Gunther. Since joining WWE, he has become a two-time World Heavyweight Champion. Most notably, he holds the record for the longest reign as WWE Intercontinental Champion in history. He also holds the historical record for the longest reign as NXT United Kingdom Champion.

Gunther began his career in Germany’s WXW and other German wrestling promotions using the names Big Van Walter, Big Daddy Walter, and simply Walter.

In 2018, Hahn signed with WWE and made his debut in NXT UK. Upon arrival, he quickly won the UK Championship from Pete Dunne and held it for 870 days.

After that, he moved to NXT and changed his name to Gunther. Within three months, he moved to SmackDown and made an immediate impact by winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship, setting a historic record by holding the title for 666 days.

Following that, he became the 24th King of the Ring and won the World Heavyweight Championship twice. Additionally, he was the final opponent for Goldberg and John Cena, and he was also AJ Styles' retirement match opponent. He defeated all three, earning himself the special nickname "Career Killer."

 The Early Days of Life

Gunther was born in Vienna on August 20, 1987. From a young age, he had a great interest in wrestling; since 1992, he showed a keen interest in watching WWF. Whenever wrestling events were held in Vienna, he would definitely go as a spectator. There, he saw wrestlers like Fit Finlay, William Regal, and Robbie Brookside.

However, at that time, he was also interested in football and played as a goalkeeper. After the age of 15, he completely stopped playing football. He used to watch all the matches of the Attitude Era and never missed any. Later, he met a wrestler named Michael Kovac, who provided wrestling training. Michael Kovac says that he gave him practical wrestling training and charged him €35.

His Wrestling Beginnings (2005 - 2006)

In 2005, he started his wrestling career, and until 2014, Gunther was known by the name Big Van Walter. According to Gunther, Mark Landauer gave him this name; Landauer even told the crowd that his name was Big Van Walter, something Gunther wasn't very happy about. He wrestled his first match on November 19, 2005, in a tag team match. At that time, Gunther was 18 years old and he lost that match. However, his first singles match took place the following year on March 25, 2006, in Bad Vöslau, where he defeated Sigi The SwissTank.

In Japan (2006 - 2012 - 2019)

According to Gunther, he initially wanted to improve his skills in America, but Chris Raaber wanted to send him to Japan. Raaber contacted 'ZERO1-MAX,' a promotion created by Shinya Hashimoto, and asked if Gunther could train there with heavyweight trainers like Riki Choshu, Tomohiro Ishii, and Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Gunther began training at the ZERO1-MAX dojo in December 2006. He was given the comedic character (gimmick) of 'Gha-cha-ping,' which was based on the cartoon character Gachapin.

For this role, Hahn dyed his hair green and would enter the ring wearing a mask. He made his debut on January 17, 2007, teaming up with Raaber to defeat Otani and Rikiya Fudo. Over the next few days, he won more matches, but on February 10, he suffered his first loss. After playing his final match in Tokyo in April 2007, Gunther returned to Japan in 2008 to fight under the name 'Big Van Walter.'

In 2011, Gunther worked with 'Big Japan Pro Wrestling.' In April, he defeated Ryuichi Kawakami and then, on May 2, defeated Daisuke Sekimoto to win the 'wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship.' In 2012, he returned to Japan again and fought several matches alongside Sekimoto. However, on May 5, 2012, Yoshihito Sasaki defeated him to earn the honor of becoming the first 'BJW World Strong Heavyweight' champion.

In July 2007, he participated in a joint tour of BJW, wXw, and CZW, competing in various tag team matches. At the end of 2019, it was announced that Walter would compete in the 'Ryogokutan 2019' show. There, he teamed up with Sekimoto to defeat Okabayashi and Yuji Hino.

What did he win in WWE?

• He won the World Heavyweight Championship title 2 times.

• He won the WWE Intercontinental Championship title 1 time.

• He also won the NXT United Kingdom Championship title 1 time.

• And in 2024, he also won the King of the Ring.

• In 2025, he won The Last Time Is Now Tournament 2025