As previously reported, this past January 13, WWE filed to trademark the “Gunther Stark” in-ring name with the USPTO (the United States Patent and Trademark Office) for entertainment services. The filing was updated this past January 19 and it was shown that WWE made the decision to abandon the trademark with the text, “Status: Abandoned because the applicant filed an express abandonment.”
WWE received a lot of backlash in regards to the name change as "Gunter Stark" was a name of a person who served as a military u-boat commander for the Nazis during World War II and because of that, they are moving forward without the “Stark” last name. Top WWE NXT Star Imperium's WALTER, who is also the longest-reigning WWE NXT UK Champion, defeated Roderick Strong in the main event of this past Tuesday night's episode of NXT 2.0 and immediately after the match, he referred to himself as “Gunther.”
WWE’s website as well as WALTER's social media accounts has been updated and Imperium's leader is now officially known as “Gunther.” It was mentioned several days back that there seems to be some sort of a backstory as to why WALTER is now being called “Gunther” and that is due to former WWE NXT Star and current AEW Star Kyle O’Reilly once referring to WALTER by that name in a tweet he sent out this past December 2019, when Imperium was feuding with The Undisputed ERA in NXT.
