There have been many people in wrestling who have been legitimate tough guys, but for all of the extensive training, legitimate combat backgrounds, and intimidating physiques performers have had, no one has ever been more feared than Haku. The folk tales and urban legends surrounding the man also known as Meng in WCW have garnered a reputation for themselves, and inside the ring, he was known to be every bit as tough as he was outside of it. However, WWE Hall of Famer JBL stated on a recent episode of the "Something to Wrestle" podcast that there is a man on the WWE roster who is just as much of a "rite of passage" as Haku was back in his prime.
"The rite of passage kind of back in the day was to have Haku chop you, and as soon as you did, everybody regretted it once they did it becauseI got to have Haku chop me once and all of a sudden, he broke my sternum. You're like "I'm dead, I'm actually seriously hurt, I may never wrestle again." That's Gunther you know? Gunther's safe by the way, and so was Haku by the way, but man does Gunther hit you hard. I was sitting out there doing commentary one time and he chopped somebody, and we were in commercial and when he did I go "OHMY GOD!" and Kevin Dunn was in my ear, he goes "You want to come back?" I said "Hell no I ain't coming back, not against him he'll hurt me.""
Gunther recently put Pat McAfee through his paces at the WWE Backlash Premium Live Event on May 10, and even though "The Ring General"walked away with the convincing victory, he was still impressed that McAfee survived the brutal onslaught of attacks he dished out.
Please credit "Something to Wrestle" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
