Walter Hahn (born 20 August 1987) is an Austrian professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Gunther. He is a former two-time World Heavyweight Champion, and the longest reigning WWE Intercontinental and NXT United Kingdom champion in company history.
Hahn first became known under the ring names Big Van Walter, Big Daddy Walter, and Walter during his tenure in Germany in Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) and various German independent promotions. Early in his career, he competed in Japan for Big Japan Pro-Wrestling (BJW) and Pro Wrestling ZERO1 under the Big Van Walter gimmick, as well as the short-lived Gha-Cha-Ping. In wXw, he became a three-time wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion and a four-time wXw World Tag Team Champion. He was one of the promotion's most respected figures throughout his tenure, leading him to become the head trainer of the wXw Wrestling Academy from 2015 to 2020. He also became a popular figure on the British, Irish, and American independent circuits, competing in promotions such as Progress Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), and Over the Top Wrestling (OTT), where he held their respective world championships between 2018 and 2019.
In 2018, Hahn signed with WWE and was assigned to its NXT UK brand, the British sister brand of its American developmental brand NXT. He established Imperium, the succeeding stable to the independent stable Ringkampf, which he founded in 2016. He soon won the NXT United Kingdom Championship against Pete Dunne, and held it for 870 days, the championship's longest reign and the eighth overall longest singles title reign for any WWE championship. In January 2022, he moved to the NXT brand, where his ring name was changed to Gunther. He moved to the main roster on the SmackDown brand three months later, winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship once and holding it for 666 days to set the record for both the longest singular reign with the title and the most cumulative days as champion, as well as the 10th longest singles championship reign of any WWE title. He later became the 24th King of the Ring and won the World Heavyweight Championship twice. He was the final opponent for Goldberg, John Cena, and AJ Styles in their retirement matches, defeating all three and earning the moniker of the "Career Killer".
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Early life
Walter Hahn was born in Vienna on 20 August 1987. He became interested in professional wrestling at a young age when a friend taped numerous World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) shows from 1992 to 1996 on the RTL channels, and kept tapes of shows from promotions such as All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and let Hahn borrow them. Hahn soon started collecting his own tapes of professional wrestling matches. He was also a spectator for a number of catch wrestling shows in Vienna at an early age, seeing wrestlers such as Fit Finlay, William Regal, and Robbie Brookside at said shows. At the same time, he was interested in football and played as a goalkeeper, but stopped playing around the age of 15. He went back to watching professional wrestling during the Attitude Era and became inspired enough to start training in Vienna under Michael Kovac, a wrestler from Linz, at Wrestling School Austria. According to Hahn, Kovac made him and the other students practice amateur wrestling to benefit their overall professional wrestling abilities, and would charge €35 for private lessons.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (2005–2006)
From the beginning of his career in 2005 until 2014, Hahn went by the ring name Big Van Walter. The name was a direct reference to Big Van Vader, but it was not a homage. According to Hahn, commentator Mark Landauer gave him the name, and Landauer went on to tell promoters that Hahn's stage name would be Big Van Walter, which annoyed Hahn. Hahn had his first recorded wrestling match on 19 November 2005 in Bern, competing in a tag team match alongside SigMasta Rappo (who, at the time, was under the ring-name Sigi The SwissTank); they lost to the High Class Catch Club (Baron von Hagen and Adam Polak). At the time of this match, Walter was 18 years old. He had his first singles match on 25 March 2006 in Bad Vöslau, defeating Sigi The SwissTank. In the early months of his career, he had his first matches with future rivals and wXw colleagues John Klinger and Absolute Andy, as well as competing in matches with the likes of Colt Cabana, Pac and "Bambikiller" Chris Raaber.
Japan (2006–2012, 2019)
According to Hahn, he wanted to initially hone his skills and train further in the United States; however, Chris Raaber wanted him to train in Japan due to the similarities within one of Raaber's trainers, Dory Funk Jr., and current puroresu trainers. Raaber reached out to Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX, the founded promotion of Shinya Hashimoto and Shinjiro Otani, and asked if Hahn could train with ZERO1-MAX and its heavyweight trainers, which consisted of Riki Choshu and his protege Tomohiro Ishii, and Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Hahn began training at the ZERO1-MAX dojo, which had also been a training facility used by members of the HUSTLE and Pride Fighting Championship rosters, in December 2006. Hahn was assigned the gimmick of Gha-cha-ping, the off-shoot wrestling gimmick of Hirake! Ponkikki character Gachapin.
For the gimmick, Hahn had his hair dyed green and wore a mask to the ring, complete with a light green singlet with yellow and pink lines in the center, contrasting to Gachapin. He made his debut as Gha-cha-ping on 17 January 2007, teaming with Raaber (as Bambikiller) to defeat Otani and Rikiya Fudo. For two days afterwards, Hahn defeated Fudo in singles matches and then Fuyujirou Jidosha. His first loss as the gimmick came on 10 February, losing to Kohei Sato in Hiroshima; he lost to him again in Nagano on 19 February as well. His last match on the tour took place on 7 April, defeating Jidosha, as Jiro Kuruma, at the Yasukuni Shrine Sumo Wrestling Place in Tokyo. Hahn returned to Japan in 2008, ditching the Gha-cha-ping gimmick and going as Big Van Walter, for two shows for the Makehen promotion. First, on 19 March, he teamed with Lance Archer, who went by his real name Lance Hoyt, losing to Masato Shibata (the future Mad Paulie) and Tomohiko Hashimoto. On 28 March, he teamed with Daisuke Sekimoto to defeat Shibata and Hashimoto.
In the midst of his run in wXw in 2011, Hahn took part in numerous shows with their main Japanese partner at the time, Big Japan Pro Wrestling. At Korakuen Hall, on 28 April, he defeated then-rookie Ryuichi Kawakami. Four days later, on 2 May, he defeated Daisuke Sekimoto to win the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship, his second reign overall. In Yokohama, on 5 May, he teamed with Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) owner D. J. Hyde to defeat Abdullah Kobayashi and Shadow WX. He returned to Japan in April 2012, teaming with Sekimoto to defeat Yoshihito Sasaki and BJW Strong ace Yuji Okabayashi. On 5 May 2012, Walter was defeated by Sasaki in a match to crown the inaugural BJW World Strong Heavyweight champion in Yokohama, a defeat considered vengeful for Sasaki as Walter had defeated him in a Unified World Wrestling Championship defense a year prior.
Westside Xtreme Wrestling (2007–2021)
Immediately following his tour in ZERO1-MAX, Walter made his Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) debut on 4 May 2007 as Big Van Walter. In March 2010, Walter won the 16 Carat Gold tournament. At 22 years old, he became the youngest winner of the tournament at the time. He won the Unified World Wrestling Championship defeating Zack Sabre Jr. via disqualification. Within this time, Walter began to form an alliance with the Sumerian Death Squad (Tommy End and Michael Dante) as "The Mind". Walter lost the Unified World Wrestling Championship to Daisuke Sekimoto on 15 January 2011, but regained it on 2 May, during a Big Japan Pro Wrestling card in Tokyo's Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. He lost the title on 19 May 2012, against El Generico.
At 16 Carat Gold 2012, Walter started a partnership with fellow Austrian wrestler Robert Dreissker, being dubbed "The AUTsiders" later on. Walter and Dreissker defeated Jay Skillet and Jonathan Gresham to win the wXw World Tag Team Championship at day three of 16 Carat Gold on 3 March 2013, a day after Walter failed to win his third Unified World Wrestling Championship against Axel Tischer. Their first defense of the titles came at the Hasta La Victoria Siempre Tour Finale, where they would defeat the Sumerian Death Squad and the Leaders Of The New School (Zack Sabre Jr. and Marty Scurll). During the reign they would successfully defend against the teams of Masashi Takeda and Drake Younger, Skillet and Ricky Marvin, D. J. Hyde and Karsten Beck (two allies of the tag team), and Maxi Schneider and Michael Schenkenberg. They would later lose the titles at 258 days in Hamburg during the 13th Anniversary tour to Hot & Spicy (Axel Dieter Jr. and Da Mack).
In October 2013, Walter competed at a ceremonial World Triangle League tournament with CZW and BJW wrestlers. He was one of three wXw qualifying wrestlers (alongside Dreiskker and John Klinger). Walter lost his block by losing to eventual overall winner Daisuke Sekimoto on the third day of the tournament after defeating Drake Younger and Kim Ray on the first and second days respectively.
In 2014, Walter changed his ring name to Big Daddy Walter, winning his third Unified World Wrestling Championship on July after he defeated Tommy End. He lost the title against Karsten Beck in January 2015, after 174 days as champion, in a match where Vince Russo appeared as the special referee and planned a screwjob against Walter.
Independent circuit (2011–2020)
Walter made his debut in North America on 13 March 2010 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at two events: Combat Zone Wrestling's "Walking On Pins And Needles" event, where he and Karsten Beck lost to the Crimson City Saga (Tommy End and Zack Sabre Jr.).
Walter worked for several independent promotion on the British and Irish independent circuit, like Revolution Pro Wrestling or Progress Wrestling. Walter participated on the Progress Wrestling's tournament Super Strong Style 16 Tournament in 2015 and 2016, but was unable to win the tournament. Perhaps Walter's most known North American work was for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). He made his PWG debut during the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles tournament, where he was eliminated by eventual finalist Keith Lee in the opening round. Walter won the PWG World Championship from Keith Lee, and lost it against Jeff Cobb. He become Progress Atlas Champion twice, both times defeating Matt Riddle. After vacating the Atlas Title, he defeated Travis Banks to win the PROGRESS World Title at Chapter 74: Mid Week Matters. He also defeated Trent Seven, the then-Atlas Champion, in a title unification match. He also worked for Over The Top Wrestling in Ireland, winning the OTT World Championship after defeating Jordan Devlin. He lost the title to Devlin in March the next year. Walter also worked for the World Wrestling Network, predominantly its main affiliate EVOLVE, wrestling for the WWN Championship twice.
WWE
It was reported in November 2018 that Walter had signed an unspecified deal with WWE, and was assigned to the NXT UK brand. Two months later, on 12 January 2019 at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool, Walter made his surprise debut by confronting WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne and attacking defeated challenger Joe Coffey. He defeated Dunne for the WWE United Kingdom Championship three months later at NXT TakeOver: New York. During his time in NXT UK, he joined Fabian Aichner, Dieter Jr. (who had now gone by his real name Marcel Barthel) and Tischer (now under Alexander Wolfe) as Imperium, reuniting Ringkampf under the new name.
On 31 August at NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff, Walter retained his title against Tyler Bate. Imperium also faced the NXT faction The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, and Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) at the NXT UK and NXT co-branded event, Worlds Collide. During his reign, the WWE United Kingdom Championship was renamed to NXT United Kingdom Championship. On the 29 October 2020 episode of NXT UK, Walter defeated Ilja Dragunov in a title defense that was highly praised. On 19 February 2021, Walter became the longest-reigning NXT United Kingdom Champion, breaking Pete Dunne's record of 685 days. On 17 March episode of NXT, Walter would return to the NXT brand and attacked Tommaso Ciampa. On 5 April, his championship reign surpassed the two-year mark. Two days later at Stand & Deliver, Walter retained his title against Ciampa. A rematch between Walter and Dragunov was set up for NXT TakeOver 36, where Walter dropped the title to Dragunov, ending his reign at 870 days. His 870-day reign as NXT UK Champion would be the longest championship reign in WWE history since 1988 until Roman Reigns surpassed the record with his second WWE Universal Championship reign in January 2023.
After losing the championship, Walter was transferred to the NXT brand. He would make his in-ring debut on the 18 January 2022 episode of NXT, defeating Roderick Strong, after which his ring name was changed to Gunther. Around this time, he lost around 65 lb (29.5 kg) by changing his diet and workout routine, going from over 300 lb (136 kg) to 250 lb (113 kg). He started a brief feud with LA Knight in March and defeated him at NXT Stand & Deliver in April. On the 5 April episode of NXT, he lost to NXT Champion Bron Breakker in what would be his final NXT appearance.
Gunther and Barthel (the latter now repackaged as Ludwig Kaiser) made their main roster debut on the 8 April episode of SmackDown and two months later, he defeated Ricochet to win the Intercontinental Championship, making him the first Austrian to win the title. He would successfully defend the title against Ricochet in a rematch and Shinsuke Nakamura. Prior to Gunther's title defense at Clash at the Castle on 3 September against Sheamus, Ludwig Kaiser announced the reformation of Imperium by reintroducing Fabian Aichner, now known as Giovanni Vinci. Gunther subsequently defeated Sheamus to retain the title. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter rated the match five stars, marking Gunther's fifth overall match, his fourth match in WWE, as well as his first match as part of the main roster to receive such a rating. He would beat Sheamus in a rematch on the 7 October episode of SmackDown. Gunther spent the remainder of 2022 and the early months of 2023 retaining the Intercontinental Championship against Rey Mysterio, Ricochet, Braun Strowman, and Madcap Moss in respective singles matches on various SmackDown episodes.
Professional wrestling style and persona
He is best known by the gimmick Der Ringgeneral (German for "The Ring General"). The gimmick itself sees him employ a no-frills, hard-hitting style inspired by the likes of Stan Hansen, Big Van Vader, and Kenta Kobashi. He is especially noted for his knife-edge chops, videos of which have sometimes gone viral due to the deafening sound they make and the welts they leave on his opponents' chests.
His philosophy (and the philosophy of Ringkampf (or Imperium, as it was later known as in WWE) members such as Axel Dieter Jr. and Timothy Thatcher) is signified by the motto Die Matte ist Heilig (German for "The Mat is Sacred"), which means that wrestlers must ensure they respect the ring for what it represents to others. He categorically put together three divisions of wrestlers as part of the philosophy: those who are respected fondly for grit, those who are respected out of idiosyncrasy or peasant-like features, and those who disrespect wrestling as a sport (who are often called showmen or slobs).
Since 2025, and previously from 2015 to 2022, his entrance music is the fourth movement of Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World". The theme song extended to the members of Ringkampf in wXw (especially Timothy Thatcher, who also used a guitar-based remix of the track), and Imperium in WWE (particularly NXT UK).
Other media
Hahn (as Walter and later Gunther) is a playable character in the video games WWE 2K22, WWE 2K23, WWE 2K24, WWE 2K25, and WWE 2K26.
Personal life
Hahn studied English as a child at school, but was poor at speaking it overall; he picked it up again when he became a professional wrestler and interacted with British, Irish, and American wrestlers in order to improve his speaking skills. He has been fluent in English since around 2012, when wXw expanded its roster to include more wrestlers from English-speaking countries.
From 2015 until 2020, Hahn co-owned the Ringkampf Apparel clothing brand with Marcel Barthel and Axel Tischer, which sponsored wrestlers such as Timothy Moura, Raquel Lourenço, Fabian Aichner, and Jeff Cobb. He is good friends with his fellow Imperium stablemates and wXw referee Rainer Ringer. He was also close friends with deceased wrestlers Karsten Beck, Absolute Andy, and John Klinger. He supports his hometown football team SK Rapid Wien and the Bundesliga team FC Schalke 04.
Hahn met English wrestler Jinny Sandhú when they competed on the independent circuit, and they began dating while in NXT UK. They married in a private ceremony in 2022, and held a second ceremony with in Sandhú's home city of London in April 2023. Their son was born on 27 December 2023. In 2025, they purchased a home in Cambridge.
Championships and accomplishments
CBS Sports
Match of the Year (2020) – vs. Ilja Dragunov on NXT UK
Defiant Wrestling
Defiant Internet Championship (1 time)
ESPN
Match of the Year (2022) – vs. Sheamus at Clash at the Castle
Men's Wrestler of the Year (2023, 2024)
European Wrestling Promotion
EWP Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Michael Kovac
Fight Club: PRO
Infinity Trophy (2018)
German Stampede Wrestling
GSW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Robert Dreissker
Over the Top Wrestling
OTT Championship (1 time)
Progress Wrestling
Progress Atlas Championship (3 times)
Progress World Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Fighters
PWF North-European Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
PWG World Championship (1 time)
