WWE Officially Changes WALTER's Name To Gunther

While Der Ring General had established himself outside of WWE as WALTER and even reigned as NXT United Kingdom Champion for 870 days under the moniker, WWE controversially renamed the 34-year-old on the January 18 edition of NXT as Gunther. 

WALTER even performed on NXT under his former in-ring name but he prevented the ring announcer from declaring him the winner following his victory over Roderick Strong, instead grabbing the microphone and announcing the winner was "Gunther."

The name change came only days after the company filed to trademark 'Gunther Stark', which also happened to be the name of an officer who served in the navy of Nazi Germany during World War 2.

The renaming of such a popular Superstar and his new moniker's connection to Nazi Germany prompted a furious backlash from fans who shared similar sentiments to former NXT Champion Keith Lee. 

He wrote: "Man....if what I'm hearing is real....Poor Walter."

Despite the controversy around the new moniker, though, WWE have officially changed WALTER's in-ring name to Gunther on their website, as you can see from the image above, with the company seemingly ignoring the criticism from their own audience. 

With that, WALTER is officially no more.