GUNTHER Celebrates New WWE Milestone

Despite still being in his first reign with the title, few former champions have held the WWE Intercontinental Championship longer than GUNTHER. Today, the Austrian-born Superstar took to X (formerly Twitter) to celebrate another milestone.

"500," GUNTHER wrote while sharing a photo of himself with his precious title belt.

500! pic.twitter.com/7B7zZ76CrW

— GUNTHER (@Gunther_AUT) October 23, 2023

The former WWE "NXT UK" Champion is currently the fourth longest reigning champion in the history of the belt, just 40-something days away from surpassing two-time champion Don Muraco's combined reigns. GUNTHER broke the record for longest single reign with the title at the beginning of September, crossing The Honky Tonk Man's previous record of 454 days. 

GUNTHER's most recent retention against Bronson Reed on October 16 marked the champion's 17th defense of the title since winning it from Ricochet in June of last year on "WWE SmackDown." There is no word on when GUNTHER's next title defense will be. The champion has been exclusively defending the belt on televised events and premium live events, which is a change from the title's usual prominence on the live event circuit in place of the World Champion.

"The Ring General" isn't the only champion making history in WWE at the moment, as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns has held the Universal Championship for 1,149 days and the WWE Championship for 567 days, making him the longest-reigning champion of the modern era. However, his tenure with the WWE Title is still well under the 1,000+ day reigns of WWE Hall of Famers like Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, and Hulk Hogan.