Report: Reason WWE Changed WALTER's Name Revealed

WWE changing WALTER’s name to Gunther this week has created equal amounts of discussion and controversy, namely due to WWE’s original trademark application for the name ‘Gunther Stark’, coincidentally the name of a Nazi U-boat commander in World War Two.

However, whilst WWE have abandoned the trademark for ‘Gunther Stark’, they are pressing ahead with calling WALTER 'Gunther' from now on, with the Austrian superstar debuting the name on this week’s edition of NXT 2.0.

Writing in this week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer has given a potential reason why WWE have changed WALTER’s name:

“The reason why is because WWE is going to feature him on weekly television and in case he does leave, like with everyone thinking of leaving, they wanted to make sure he couldn’t use his WWE name elsewhere. WWE couldn’t own the name Walter since it’s his real name nor, as his real name, stop him from using it in other companies if he left. The transition was weird.”

Meltzer also noted that those close to WALTER says he is politically ‘very left leaning’, and having come from a working class family in Austria, don’t believe ‘had he personally known he’d have been okay with being named after a Nazi.’