“I’m Not a Foreign Menace”: Gunther Explains Why He Refused to Carry a Flag in WWE
Gunther has made it clear he was never comfortable with one particular aspect of his WWE presentation, and he made sure to shut it down as quickly as possible.
The Ring General sat down with Cody Rhodes on the “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” series, and opened up about why he deliberately distanced himself from the “foreign heel” stereotype that wrestling promoters have leaned on for decades.
“I’m not a foreign menace,” Gunther stated flatly. “I always get a little annoyed because they go, ‘Oh, he’s just a bad foreigner.’ I try to avoid everything that has to do with the flag.”
The former World Heavyweight Champion revealed that WWE originally wanted the Austrian flag featured prominently on his ring gear when he first started with the company.
“They put it on my trunks when I started out. They really wanted to have the flag on me. I got rid of it as soon as I could because it just doesn’t do anything,” Gunther explained. “It’s not 1990 anymore.”
The timing of his comments comes during what has been a dominant run for Gunther. He recently submitted John Cena in what would become Cena’s final match, retired AJ Styles at the 2026 Royal Rumble, and continued his momentum on Monday Night RAW by defeating Dragon Lee after unmasking him mid-match.
Rather than leaning on outdated tropes, Gunther has his sights set on a different kind of legacy. During the same interview, he mapped out exactly who he wants to share the ring with going forward.
“Where I wanna get to is to be able to get into that spot, but then wrestle Ilja [Dragunov] in that position. And have great matches with Bron [Breakker] down the line in that position. Have great matches with Oba [Femi]. There’s many more of them,” Gunther said.
“I wanna be the guy that’s gonna be able to wrestle all of them, have great matches with all of them, and contribute that way.”
With WrestleMania 42 approaching, the wrestling world is watching closely to see where The Ring General fits into WWE’s biggest show of the year.
