(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: GUNTHER vs. Chad Gable – RAW, September 4, 2023

Few wrestlers have had as good a year in 2023 as GUNTHER. He set a new time record in the Royal Rumble match, put on a MOTYC at WrestleMania 39, held the Intercontinental Championship for the entire calendar year, and finally surpassed the Honky Tonk Man’s record for longest-ever reign.

With all the time and effort WWE put into making GUNTHER’s reign into something special, it stood to reason that they’d do the same with his big make-or-break match. This was the big one, the match that would determine whether GUNTHER would break the historic record or come up short. And by most accounts it was an outstanding match live, but how well does it hold up now after the initial hoopla has died down? Let’s find out.

Previously I was writing for a site called TJR Wrestling and now this series is coming to Blog of Doom. For now you can check out the series in its entirety here.

The story

After defeating Drew McIntyre at SummerSlam to retain his title, GUNTHER found himself without a major title challenger. That’s when Chad Gable answered the call much to GUNTHER’s surprise. Gable hadn’t had much singles success in WWE despite his impressive amateur credentials. In fact, in the months prior to this match the closest he had come to wrestling GUNTHER was in tag matches with Otis against GUNTHER and his Imperium allies or in house show title matches.

But since the house shows usually serve as testing grounds for televised feuds, someone in WWE must’ve seen Gable doing well with GUNTHER in front of untelevised crowds and thought “there’s money here” and brought it to Triple H’s attention. And so these two began a short feud on RAW.

People expected GUNTHER to mop the floor with Gable but then something unexpected happened: Gable beat GUNTHER via count-out on RAW on August 21st. It was a huge win as GUNTHER had largely been unblemished since becoming champion. Furious that Gable had the gall to beat him via count-out the champion issued a challenge to Gable once again, this time wanting a clean decision. Naturally Gable accepted, and thus the match was set for September 4th. That was a big deal because, at the time, GUNTHER had no more scheduled title defenses, meaning that if he won here he would beat Honky Tonk Man’s record and become the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion ever.

Most people expected GUNTHER to win here since he was such an unstoppable force, but Gable had shown growth in the weeks leading to this match. many people remember his impressive Chaos Theory German suplex on Braun Strowman at WrestleMania and his various interactions with other Imperium members showed that he could put up more of a fight when he needed to.

And what better time for him to need to than in the biggest singles match of his life, with the whole world including his wife and children watching on?

The match

This match originally took place on September 4, 2023. It was rated ****1/2 out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

The crowd is overwhelmingly pro-Gable as GUNTHER throws his weight around early. Some chain grappling ensues and then Gable rolls into an ankle catch. GUNTHER gets a ropebreak and powers Gable into a corner. Gable ducks some big chops and hits some of his own, angering the champion. GUNTHER chases Gable around the ring and then gets dropkicked off the apron twice to a big pop from the audience as we go to commercial.

We come back to GUNTHER in control (it’s not explained how he got it) when suddenly Gable hits a dragon screw leg whip through the ropes followed by an upside-down heel hook on the apron. Gable follows with a chop block to that now-weakened left leg but GUNTHER hits back with a big boot using his right leg for a two-count.

Gable tries hitting back but GUNTHER shuts him down with chops and elbows. A few more nasty chops drop Gable again but then he fires up. He removes the straps of his singlet and demands GUNTHER hit him some more. He fires off several shots to fire up the crowd, only for GUNTHER to power him into a corner and chop him down once again. GUNTHER follows with a top-rope foot choke which sends Gable to the floor leading into the second commercial break.

We come back again to Gable escaping a powerbomb and trying an ankle lock. GUNTHER blocks and tries the powerbomb again but this time Gable punches out and headscissors GUNTHER to the floor. Both men fall to ringside and GUNTHER gets up first. He goes for a lariat but Gable ducks and hits a German suplex. Gable tosses GUNTHER back into the ring to avoid a count-out but GUNTHER capitalizes on that split-second decision and nails a Folding powerbomb. One, two, Gable kicks out.

Gable tries cutting GUNTHER off on the top rope but an overhand chop sends him back down. Gable pulls a Shelton Benjamin and runs up to the top rope to land a superplex. The crowd goes nuts. Gable follows with a diving head-butt for a two-count and rolls into an ankle lock on the bad leg. GUNTHER kicks him off but Gable maintains the pressure with a Chaos Theory attempt. GUNTHER elbows out mid-move and tries another powerbomb. Gable escapes, ducks a lariat, and counters a sleeper into a Backdrop suplex. Gable’s all fired up now as he lands the Chaos Theory and bridges. The referee counts one, two, and – no, GUNTHER kicks out.

Gable goes to the top rope and dives with a moonsault. GUNTHER goes for the tried-and-tested knees up counter but Gable sees that, lands on his feet, and traps GUNTHER in another ankle lock. GUNTHER tries rolling out but Gable rolls with him. Gable grapevines the leg. GUNTHER can’t reach the ropes so he has to kick his way to freedom once again. Gable lets go and GUNTHER applies a grounded sleeper hold. Gable can’t power out but he can counter into a rollover cover which forces GUNTHER to let go. Gable rushes in but walks into a Kobashi-style sleeper suplex. GUNTHER follows that with both a powerbomb and a lariat for the pin the win, and the new record as IC Champion.

Winner and STILL WWE Intercontinental Champion after 15:50 (official)/9:34 (shown): GUNTHER

Post-match the camera pans to Gable’s oldest daughter who immediately sinks down in tears while GUNTHER recovers and celebrates his big win.

Review

If there was ever a match that didn’t need to be hamstrung by commercials, it was this one. Two breaks during a ~16-minute match caused around 40% of the action to be cut, which hurt the match in a big way. Had this match taken place on PPV/PLE it would be a different story. Some important things were cut from the broadcast like GUNTHER working a long backbreaker to wear Gable down and built sympathy for him. So what we were left with were the match’s best and most important moments, but again, not the whole thing. And while what was shown on TV was impressive, it would’ve been much better had this match taken place without the crippling commercials that no one really cared about anyway.

What we did see was the age old David versus Goliath dynamic. GUNTHER played the hits (quite literally) as he demolished Gable at each turn. Gable tried wrestling strategically by going after GUNTHER’s leg but it just wasn’t enough. He got close with a long ankle lock spot and an impressive Chaos Theory but once those failed to win him the match it became a matter of time. Gable never gave up hope which caused the fans to really invest in him as an underdog. Even though he never really stood a chance of winning he put on such a compelling performance that he made believers out of skeptics for a few brief moments. But ultimately, his scrappy underdog grit was no match for GUNTHER’s brutality and raw power.

Final rating: ****

This match took place on a somewhat contradictory episode of RAW. They built to this match all show and when it finally came about it was struck with two commercial breaks that left the final match spliced up and incomplete. What, they couldn’t go to commercial during something far less important? They couldn’t either shorten a segment or cut it altogether, like the MizTV segment or one of the useless squash matches?

This reeked of poor planning on WWE’s part. Most people wanted to see the full match but were stuck with a TV edition instead. I’m sure the whole thing is saved on some hard drive somewhere in the bowels of WWE HQ and, judging from comments across the web, there are plenty of people that would want WWE to release the full match in the future.

Who knows, having a bunch of “never before seen” content would certainly make the Network much more of a worthwhile investment, especially since the Network is still somewhat incomplete as it is now.

Thanks for reading.