Note On Why Gunther vs. Chad Gable Wasn’t On WWE Payback

Gunther defends the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Chad Gable tonight on WWE Raw, and a new report has a note on why it didn’t happen at Payback. WWE Payback took place on Saturday with just six matches, and according to Fightful Select the decision to keep the match on Raw as opposed to putting it on the PPV was one that served multiple purposes.

The report notes that the decision was in part a continuation of WWE’s goals to keep runtimes of PPVs down so they don’t run longer than they need to. That was the same reason that WWE didn’t put Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus on SummerSlam and instead had it play out on Raw until they finally had the blowoff feud at Payback.

In addition to that reason, the report notes that WWE booked the match for Raw in order to get Gunther closer to the Intercontinental Championship record before the match took place. As it stands, Gunther’s reign is at 451 days, three shy of Honky Tonk Man’s 454-day record, which helps them add some drama to the proceedings. Finally, having the match on Raw allows them to highlight it more than it would have been on Payback.

As a final note, the report cites a source in the company as saying that Honky Tonk Man was never really considered for last week’s Raw, which took place in Memphis. Some had speculated that he might appear as Gunther got ever closer to the record.