WWE Receiving Criticism For Apparent WALTER Name Change

WALTER has apparently been given a new ring name of Gunther Stark.

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 main event saw WALTER defeat Roderick Strong in singles action. After the match, WALTER interrupted the ring announcer and declared that the winner of the match was “Gunther,” instead of WALTER. The show went off the air with Imperium (WALTER, NXT Tag Team Champions Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner) brawling with The Diamond Mine (Strong, The Creed Brothers).

WWE filed to trademark a “Gunther Stark” name on January 13. The use description filed with the USPTO (United States Patent & Trademark Office) was for general pro wrestling and sports entertainment use, the same use description they often file with ring name trademarks.

The apparent name change is receiving a lot of criticism on social media as “Günther Stark” was also the name of a U-Boat Commander who served in World War II in the Kriegsmarine, the navy of Nazi Germany. Kapitänleutnant Stark died at the age of 27 on June 8, 1944, while at war in the English Channel.

There had been some speculation on “Gunther Stark” being the name of a new NXT Superstar, possibly linked to the injured Zoey Stark, but now it looks like this could be the new ring name for the leader of Imperium.

As we’ve noted, WALTER is now working the main NXT brand full-time and has moved to the United States. Before tonight’s main event, NXT featured a backstage segment where WALTER congratulated Aichner and Barthel for carrying the Imperium flag while he was away. He declared that Imperium now has a new mission, which involves dominating NXT as they did with NXT UK.

It should be noted that WWE has not changed WALTER’s name on the official website as of this roster. He is also still listed as WALTER on all social media pages, at least as of this writing.

Stay tuned for more.

They should reconsider and change his name back again. No real reason to change the name at all. It seems like the gimmick is still the same as before as well, so it's pretty weird just to change his name just like that.

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Originally Posted by Smartmark

They should reconsider and change his name back again. No real reason to change the name at all. It seems like the gimmick is still the same as before as well, so it's pretty weird just to change his name just like that.

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I agree. I hate it when Vince has to change someone's name when they're already established in the wrestling world. He's been on the WWE payroll for years as WALTER. There's no point in changing the name except for the fact that Vince has to do this shit because he didn't make the gimmick and he has to reinvent the gimmick so he feels like he made the wrestler. It's fucking ridiculous.

And he takes one of the best "Big Men" wrestlers on the planet and gives him the name of a fucking Nazi officer.....Insane.

^^ I agree. Although, Imperium is kinda a Nazi-esque gimmick. But yeah, there is no reason to change a established name. I do think WWE will reconsider the name change, as it seems like a movement amongst the fans is starting to happen. If every fan chants WALTER when he's around, WWE has to change his name back. They cannot silence millions of wrestling fans around the world. Not even Vince has that power.

The Nazi stuff doesn’t matter but changing his name is fucked