WWE Referee Jessika Carr Claims Gunther Did Not Tap Out: "I Had The Best View"

Submitted by Matt Boone on


Did Gunther tap out?

The finish of the rematch between Gunther and Sheamus during the season premiere episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown saw "The Celtic Warrior" apply a Cloverleaf submission that appeared to force the tap from Gunther. Instead, the referee of the match, Jessika Carr, claimed he did not tap and as a result, the match would continue and Gunther would go on to pull off the victory after using an illegal foreign object to secure the win.

The match resulted in a lot of backlash, with many feeling that Sheamus was robbed of his victory and the WWE Intercontinental Championship that would have come along with it.

So was Sheamus screwed?

According to the opinion of the one person who matters in this situation, the aforementioned Jessika Carr, he was not.

"Nope," Carr wrote when asked by a fan on Twitter if Gunther tapped out. "And I had the best view."

The general consensus was that Gunther pulled what is often referred to in the MMA community as a "Brazilian tap," which is essentially lightly tapping once or twice in hopes of getting your opponent to release the submission before the referee jumping in to call things off, leaving you with plausible deniability so that the fight can continue, or at the very least, so you can save face.

What do you think? Did Gunther tap out? Should Sheamus be the WWE Intercontinental Champion right now? Watch the controversial near-finish in the spot in question from the main event of this week's SmackDown season premiere via the video embedded in the tweet seen below, and let us know by sounding off in the Comments section at the bottom of this page.