Sam Roberts has a nuanced take on whether Gunther should be the man to retire Brock Lesnar — and it comes down to storytelling rather than capability. Speaking on Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast, Roberts acknowledged Gunther has the credentials to end Lesnar’s career, but warned against turning retirement matches into a formula.
“He could. I think it’d be great. I think he could retire Brock Lesnar,” Roberts said. “But I think the idea should be that Gunther has the ability to retire people — but number one, he doesn’t retire everybody. And number two, he does more than just retire people. Because if everybody’s retirement match is against Gunther, it becomes — okay, we know what happens here. We’re doing the same thing over and over again.”
Sam Roberts on Gunther, Lesnar, and Making Audiences Believe the Outcome Isn’t Certain
Roberts pointed to the retirement matches of Goldberg, John Cena, and AJ Styles as examples of how WWE has kept audiences genuinely uncertain about outcomes. “I think if he is the guy to retire Brock Lesnar, which he could be and it would be great — make me believe he’s not going to do it. We assumed he would beat Goldberg. But there were a lot of people who thought John Cena might win his last match. Up until the very last minute, a lot of people also thought AJ wasn’t necessarily going to get retired just like that at the Rumble.” For Roberts, the key ingredient isn’t the result — it’s the doubt that precedes it. Whether Gunther ends up in Lesnar’s retirement picture remains to be seen, but the framework for it working is clear.
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