Gunther's WrestleMania Plan to Retire Rey Mysterio Abandoned

WWE originally intended for Gunther to end Rey Mysterio's career at WrestleMania, adding the veteran to Gunther's list of wrestlers whose careers he had supposedly "retired". Mysterio rejected the idea, saying he wanted his son Dominik to retire him in Mexico and did not wish to bow out to Gunther.

Because of Mysterio's refusal, WWE reworked Gunther's WrestleMania storyline into a last‑minute match against Seth Rollins. After the event, Gunther received little screen time despite previously being credited with retiring John Cena, Goldberg and AJ Styles. A rumored payoff from Paul Heyman that would have pitted Gunther against Brock Lesnar also fell through, as Lesnar chose to continue working with Oba Femi.

The fallout left Gunther on SmackDown in a forced feud with Cody Rhodes and later a storyline with Nick Aldis, while the original retirement angle for Mysterio remains unfulfilled.