Last month, Gunther etched his name in the history books forever when he became the longest-reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion in history. The leader of Imperium overtook The Honky Tonk Man’s 454-day reign, breaking the WWE Hall of Famer’s record which had stood for over three-and-a-half decades, on September 8th and continues to be one of the most dominant stars in WWE today. Gunther last retained the belt over Tommaso Ciampa in the main event of last week’s Raw and now his next challenger has been confirmed: Bronson Reed!
During last night’s edition of WWE Raw, Reed was part of a triple threat match alongside Chad Gable and Ricochet to determine the new #1 contender to Gunther’s Intercontinental title. In the match’s closing moments, it looked like Gable had secured his third opportunity to dethrone Gunther with a Chaos Theory on Ricochet, but Reed deadlifted Ricochet out of the pin, threw him down on Gable and hit both men with a running senton. He followed that up with the Tsunami on Ricochet, securing him the pinfall win and a match with Gunther on next week’s edition of Raw.
This marks Reed’s third championship match since returning to WWE this past January and his very first at the Intercontinental Championship. Reed competed in an Elimination Chamber match for Austin Theory’s United States Championship back in February alongside Damian Priest, Johnny Gargano, Montez Ford, and Seth Rollins. He went on to compete for the title again, albeit unsuccessfully, at WWE Backlash the following May in a triple threat match against Bobby Lashley and Theory.
Alongside Reed vs. Gunther, four more matches were made official for next week’s Raw: Damian Priest and Finn Balor will get their rematch for the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship against Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso, Shinsuke Nakamura will face Ricochet in a Falls Count Anywhere match, WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley faces Shayna Baszler in a non-title bout and Natalya will take on one half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Piper Niven.
Haus of Wrestling has partnered with Inside The Ropes to present An Afternoon With Kevin Nash And Sean Waltman on November 25 at Joe’s Live in Rosemont, IL, ten minutes from the All-State Arena. Tickets are now available at JoesLiveRosemont.com.