“I get beaten up,” 39-year-old star breaks silence after suffering humiliating defeat against Gunther on Raw

WWE superstar comments on his brutal loss after unsuccessfully challenging Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship on Raw.

“I get beaten up,” 39-year-old star breaks silence after suffering humiliating defeat against Gunther on Raw

Akira Tozawa breaks silence after losing to Gunther (via WWE)

Gunther is famous for his inability to tolerate nonsense. He has often talked about bringing seriousness and glory back to professional wrestling. Thus, it is no secret that he hates anything related to “sports entertainment.” Therefore, things were bound to end badly for an unserious character like Akira Tozawa when he went up against the 37-year-old.

Following the latest episode of the red brand, Tozawa posted some motivational words on his X account. This entire fiasco began on Raw when Gunther was walking backstage, and he saw Alpha Academy doing TikTok dances. Of course, this raised an expression of disappointment on the World Heavyweight Champion’s face.

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Later, during the night, he cut a promo in front of the live crowd about Jey Uso. Furthermore, he said that he was going to defend his World Heavyweight Championship on Raw against a hand-picked opponent, who was revealed to be Akira Tozawa.

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The Ring General said that the two of them were alike in many ways. They had both uprooted their lives and gone through a complete physical transformation to be in WWE. However, the Japanese superstar was wasting his gift by dancing in front of degenerate fans.

No matter how many times i lose, I get beated up. I will get back to the ring.

Akira Tozawa on X

The match began, and Gunther dominated his opponent throughout. There was a moment when Tozawa almost pinned the champion with a roll-up but did not get any significant opportunities after that. The King of the Ring landed a powerbomb but refused to go for the pin.

Instead, he put the challenger in the Gojira Clutch until the referee stopped the match. Furthermore, he continued to attack the Alpha Academy members after the match until Jey Uso made the save.

Rikishi apologizes to Gunther for not seeing him as a main event-level superstar

Gunther recently crossed the six-month mark as World Heavyweight Champion after winning it against Damian Priest at SummerSlam 2024. Although this current reign has been disappointing for some fans, there is no doubt that The Ring General is a solid main-eventer and deserves every bit of success that he has. While some fans always expected him to reach this level, others, such as Rikishi, had their doubts.

Gunther
Gunther (via WWE)

Speaking on his Off The Top podcast, Rikishi congratulated Gunther on all the success he had achieved in WWE. He admitted that he never saw the Austrian as a main event guy. However, he was also never on the road with these guys anymore. Thus, it was natural for him to miss out on certain people’s talents.

Congratulations to Gunther. I was wrong about Gunther earlier. I’m going to man up because I didn’t see Gunther as being the main player. But obviously, there’s things that I don’t see, because I’m not on the road with them. 

Rikishi on Off The Top
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Rikishi’s son, Jey Uso, has officially chosen Gunther as his WrestleMania opponent following his Royal Rumble victory. The Hall of Famer also expressed his excitement for this match. He said that this match was a big deal for both of them, as it was their first WrestleMania main event ever. Furthermore, he expressed his support for both of them going out and stealing the show.

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