35-year-old could be Roman Reigns' WWE WrestleMania 40 opponent, legend predicts
Legendary wrestling booker and manager Dutch Mantell believes Roman Reigns could face Gunther at WWE WrestleMania 40.
On April 2, Reigns retained the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in the WrestleMania 39 main event against Cody Rhodes. Earlier in the show, Gunther successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Drew McIntyre and Sheamus.
On Story Time with Dutch Mantell, the 73-year-old initially tipped Cody Rhodes to win the newly introduced RAW-exclusive WWE World Heavyweight Championship:
"When they came out with that third belt, nobody's the champion yet on RAW, right?" Mantell said. "Okay, so that would probably go to Cody, I would think." [28:22 – 28:34]
After considering other options, Mantell tipped Gunther as a possible world title contender. He also predicted that the Austrian might go one-on-one with Reigns at next year's WrestleMania:
"Gunther, they could put it on Gunther," Mantell continued. "That would be a good one, and I think Gunther versus Roman, that may be WrestleMania next year." [28:41 – 28:55]
WrestleMania 40 will be held on April 6-7, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gunther recently boldly stated that he would compete in the main event.
Gunther and Roman Reigns' WWE Draft destinations
On the April 28 episode of SmackDown, Roman Reigns was selected by the blue brand as the first draft pick alongside Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa. Later in the show, Gunther was drafted to RAW as the sixth pick alongside fellow Imperium members Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser.
#WWERaw gets the next pick in the #WWEDraft:
#Imperium is seeing RED! @Gunther_AUT @VinciWWE @wwe_kaiser 😤🔥 https://t.co/ZiOvYonf1W
A match between Gunther and Reigns is unlikely to happen any time soon due to their statuses with RAW and SmackDown, respectively.
Realistically, the two men are only likely to meet one-on-one in the next year if Gunther wins the Men's Money in the Bank ladder match or the 2024 Men's Royal Rumble. That way, he could potentially choose to challenge for a world title on an opposing brand.
Would you like to see Gunther vs. Roman Reigns? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit Story Time with Dutch Mantell and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.