Gunther Slated for Potential WrestleMania Showdown with AJ Styles After Raw Faceoff

After their brief interaction on this week's Raw, AJ Styles and Gunther are expected to have a singles match, most probably at next year's WrestleMania.

Gunther Slated for Potential WrestleMania Showdown with AJ Styles After Raw Faceoff

Gunther could be gearing up to retire AJ Styles [via- WWE]

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After making John Cena tap out last weekend, WWE has a mega villain on deck with Gunther. He received a hostile welcome from a pissed-off Hershey crowd this past Monday night on Raw. After playing in the faces of the people who couldn’t stand ‘The Ring General’, he made his way to the back, with everyone giving a look of disgust at seeing the Austrian.

After being dismissed as an as*hole by Raw GM Adam Pearce and asked to exit the arena, Gunther saw AJ Styles standing beside his car in the parking lot. ‘The Phenomenal One’ decided not to talk any trash with Gunther at that point in time.

The Vienna native hilariously mocked Styles with John Cena’s ‘You Can’t See Me’ taunt before rolling off. The said confrontation between these wrestlers has sparked obvious rumors about their inevitable clash.

The chatter on social media believes that Styles’ faceoff with the former NXT UK Champion was a foreshadowing of someone whom he would be standing across from in his WWE farewell match, preferably at WrestleMania 42.

Analyzing it on the Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer couldn’t put a stamp on whether that segment from Raw was basically a setup for WrestleMania. However, the veteran journalist underscored that WWE is apparently trying to duplicate what Gunther did to Cena in terms of sending him packing into retirement. Styles has made it abundantly clear that he will retire from in-ring action in 2026.

I don’t know if it’s going to be at Mania, which is kind of weird, you know — in a sense I’d go like, well, AJ hasn’t been pushed that hard, why should he be with Gunther? But at the same time, you know, they’re trying to duplicate the thing with the AJ retirement, you know, coming up this year. So maybe that’s the beginning of the… you know, I mean, it makes sense for Gunther to face and beat AJ as well.

Dave Meltzer via WOR

Moreover, the former IWGP Champion admitted to Cena that he doesn’t see himself going down the farewell tour route like ‘The Cenation Leader’ did. It would probably mean that one shouldn’t necessarily expect Styles to compete till the very end of next year. If that were the case, the fans would definitely hope for WWE to confer a high-profile WrestleMania match on ‘The Face That Runs the Place’.

What could be in store for Gunther, ushering in the new year?

Gunther will march into the new year with even more heat than he’s ever had before. As he gloated about on Raw, the former Imperium leader will always be remembered as the man who made Cena give up in his last WWE match.

The burning question for now is what would be Gunther’s next move. On next week’s Raw, which is already taped, the fans will see Gunther getting confronted by the World Heavyweight Champion, CM Punk.

Gunther
Gunther [via- WWE]

Punk took the world title from the erstwhile Walter at SummerSlam after an incredible match. ‘The Ring General’ suffered a broken nose in its aftermath and had to step away for a bit. It means Gunther has two major reasons to have a rematch with ‘The Best in the World’.

That’s something the fans would look forward to if Punk gets past Bron Breakker on the first episode of Raw in 2026. But if WWE has actually lined up Gunther as the one to send AJ Styles into retirement, the upcoming Royal Rumble match would be the perfect stage to put it on the map.

Either men eliminating each other from the covered 30-man field would be the exact ammo needed to kick off a must-see rivalry between ‘The Ring General’ and ‘The Phenomenal One’.

Both men had faced off in a steel cage match in Dortmund earlier this year in March. Back then, Gunther retained his World Heavyweight title against Styles and even shook hands afterwards as a sign of mutual respect. However, they’re yet to wrestle in a televised singles match, which is very much in the cards in 2026.

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