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Imperium (professional wrestling)

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Imperium
Tag team
MembersWalter / Gunther (leader)
Marcel Barthel / Ludwig Kaiser
Name(s)Imperium
Billed heightsGunther: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Kaiser 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Combined
billed weight		459 lb (208 kg)
Former
member(s)		Alexander Wolfe
Fabian Aichner / Giovanni Vinci
Debut22 May 2019
Years active2019–present

Imperium is a European villainous professional wrestling tag team consisting of leader Gunther of Austria and Ludwig Kaiser of Germany. They are currently signed to WWE, where they perform on the Raw brand. Gunther is the current World Heavyweight Champion in his first reign.

Previously working for several European promotions, including together as part of the stable Ringkampf, Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser, then known as Walter and Marcel Barthel, respectively, signed with the WWE in 2019, having been assigned to the NXT UK brand and were paired with Giovanni Vinci, then known as Fabian Aichner, of Italy, and Alexander Wolfe of Germany; the stable started to use the name Imperium, with the motto of "The mat is sacred" (German: Die Matte ist heilig) imported from Ringkampf. During the stable's time in NXT, Walter became the longest-reigning NXT United Kingdom Champion, while Barthel and Aichner became two-time NXT Tag Team Champions. In May 2021, Wolfe was kicked out of Imperium, and Aichner departed the group in April the following year. In April 2022, Gunther and Kaiser debuted on the SmackDown brand as a duo, dropping the Imperium name, with Gunther winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship in June. Three months later, Vinci was reintroduced and reunited Imperium as a trio. On April 22, 2024, Vinci was kicked out of Imperium following their loss against The New Day.

Background

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From 2016 to 2019, Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser (then known as Walter and Axel Dieter Jr.) were members of a stable called Ringkampf alongside Timothy Thatcher and Christian Michael Jakobi, in which they worked on several European promotions.

Ringkampf's first match occurred on 23 September 2016 when Axel Dieter Jr. teamed up with Walter and Thatcher to defeat Da Mack, Francis Kaspin and John Klinger in a tag team match at the wXw Shotgun Live Tour in Ludwigshafen.[1] Ringkampf also wrestled for Progress Wrestling. At Chapter 47, Ringkampf (Walter, Dieter and Thatcher) challenged British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) for all of their championships, in a six-man tag team match, but they were unsuccessful.[2][3] In October 2020, Walter announced he would close Ringkampf since he, Wolfe and Barthel wouldn't work for wXw.[4]

History

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WWE

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NXT UK and NXT (2019–2022)

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On the 22 May 2019 episode of NXT UK, Walter won a rematch for the United Kingdom Championship against Dunne, after interference by the European Union (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel), thus establishing himself as a heel.[5] They would form a faction under the name Imperium.[6] The faction would later be joined by Alexander Wolfe, after he interfered in a match pitting Imperium against British Strong Style. On the 26 June episode of NXT UK, Walter retained his title against Travis Banks. On the 3 July episode of NXT UK, Imperium interfered in Moustache Mountain's title match against Grizzled Young Veterans therefore making Grizzled Young Veterans retain their titles. After the match, they injured Tyler Bate. On 31 August at NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff, Walter retained his title against Bate.[7]

In the build-up for the NXT UK and NXT co-branded pay-per-view, Worlds Collide, Imperium started a feud with The Undisputed Era (NXT Champion Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, and NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly), and during the final moments of NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II on 12 January 2020, the group attacked Imperium following Walter's successful title defense against Joe Coffey, thus further intensifying it.[8][9] The following week, the WWE United Kingdom Championship was renamed to NXT United Kingdom Championship and Walter was presented with a slightly updated belt design, with the WWE logo at the center being replaced with the NXT UK logo.[10] On 13 May 2020, Barthel and Aichner defeated Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher (a substitute for Pete Dunne) to win the NXT Tag team Championship after Thatcher walked out on Riddle.[11] The duo lost the titles to Breezango (Fandango & Tyler Breeze) on the 26 August episode of NXT.[12] On the 29 October episode of NXT UK, Walter retained the United Kingdom Championship in a match against Ilja Dragunov in another highly acclaimed match.[13]

On 19 February 2021, Walter became the longest-reigning NXT United Kingdom Champion, breaking Pete Dunne's record of 685 days, making Walter the longest-reigning champion in WWE history since 1988.[14] On the 18 May episode of NXT, after Wolfe was defeated by Killian Dain, he was attacked by Aichner and Barthel, thus kicking him out of the faction. This was done to write him off television as Wolfe's WWE contract was due to expire the following June; he was subsequently among the group of NXT talent released from their contracts the following day.[15][16] At NXT TakeOver 36, Walter dropped the United Kingdom Championship to Dragunov in a rematch ending his historic reign at 870 days.[17] At NXT: Halloween Havoc, Aichner and Berthel regained the NXT Tag Team Championship by defeating MSK.[18] They later lost the titles back to MSK at Stand & Deliver the following year, in a triple threat match that also involved The Creed Brothers. Their final NXT appearance was on the 5 April episode of NXT when Aichner and Barthel faced the Creed brothers in a losing effort, with Aichner walking out of their match, and Gunther facing NXT Champion Bron Breakker in a losing effort.

Main roster (2022–present)

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Imperium at the Clash at the Castle event

On 8 April 2022, Gunther and Barthel (now going by Ludwig Kaiser) debuted on SmackDown for the first time with Gunther defeating Joe Alonzo in his first match; while their association was maintained, the Imperium name was dropped.[19] On the 27 May episode of SmackDown, Gunther and Kaiser made their debut as a tag team against Drew Gulak and Ricochet, with Kaiser pinning Gulak for the win.[20] On the 10 June episode of SmackDown, Gunther defeated Ricochet to win the Intercontinental Championship, making him the first Austrian to win the title.[21] Prior to Gunther's title defense at Clash at the Castle, Kaiser announced the reformation of Imperium by reintroducing Aichner, now known as Giovanni Vinci. Gunther subsequently defeated Sheamus to retain the Intercontinental Championship,[22][23] and since then Imperium has been involved in a feud with Sheamus' group The Brawling Brutes. At Extreme Rules on 8 October Imperium lost to The Brawling Brutes in a Six Man Tag Team Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook match.[24] In Night 2 of WrestleMania 39, Gunther successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Sheamus and Drew McIntyre in a triple threat match.[25]

As part of the 2023 WWE Draft, Imperium were drafted to the Raw brand. This marked their return to Raw since their last appearance during NXT's invasion of Raw on November 11, 2019.[26][27]

On April 6, 2024, Gunther lost the title to Sami Zayn at WrestleMania XL Night 1 ending his record setting Intercontinental Championship reign at 666 days, becoming the WWE Superstar with the longest combined Intercontinental Championship reign (breaking the record previously held by Pedro Morales's longest Intercontinental Championship reign at 617 days over two reigns).[28] On the April 22, 2024 episode of Raw, after Vinci with Kaiser lost to The New Day, Kaiser attacked Vinci, kicking the latter out of Imperium in the process.[29] Vinci's expulsion from the group was solidified when he was drafted to the SmackDown brand a week later during Night 2 of the 2024 WWE Draft.[30]

Members

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L Leader
* Founding member(s)

Current

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Members Joined
Walter / Gunther (L) May 22, 2019 *
Marcel Barthel / Ludwig Kaiser May 22, 2019 *

Former

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Members Joined Left
Alexander Wolfe June 12, 2019 May 18, 2021
Fabian Aichner / Giovanni Vinci May 22, 2019* April 22, 2024 [a]

Timeline

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Championships and accomplishments

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Notes

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  1. ^ Giovanni Vinci had temporarily left Imperium from April 5, 2022 to September 3, 2022.
  2. ^ Walter won the title as the WWE United Kingdom Championship, but during his reign in January 2020, it was renamed to NXT United Kingdom Championship.

References

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  1. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Ringkampf Matches". CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database. Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  2. ^ Boon, Alan (27 April 2017). "The Week In British Wrestling: The reign of BSS continues". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  3. ^ Bentley, Martin (24 April 2017). "Tyler Bate, Mark Andrews, Pete Dunne, Timothy Thatcher & more: 4/23 Progress Wrestling Chapter 47: Complicated Simplicity report". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  4. ^ "411Mania".
  5. ^ "WWE NXT UK: May 22, 2019". WWE. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  6. ^ "New NXT UK Faction Debuts Featuring WWE Main Roster Star". WhatCulture. 22 April 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Best NXT Matches of 2019 According to Star Ratings - Page 5 of 5". 21 February 2019.
  8. ^ "Undisputed Era appear at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II". 12 January 2020.
  9. ^ "Undisputed Era Crash NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II, Attack Imperium | Fightful News".
  10. ^ "New NXT UK Championship Unveiled at TV Taping". 17 January 2020.
  11. ^ "WWE NXT REPORT: TAG TITLE MATCH, TAKEOVER IS COMING IN JUNE, THE GARGANOS INVITE YOU TO JOIN THEM AT DINNER, THE TOURNAMENT CONTINUES, AND MORE". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. 13 May 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  12. ^ Moore, John (26 August 2020). "8/26 NXT TV results: Moore's review of new NXT Champion Karrion Kross and Scarlett, Tommaso Ciampa returns, Santos Escobar vs. Isaiah "Swerve" Scott for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship, Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel vs. Tyler Breeze and Fandango for the NXT Tag Titles". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  13. ^ "Resultados WWE NXT UK 29 de octubre de 2020". 29 October 2020.
  14. ^ "WALTER breaks record as longest-reigning NXT United Kingdom Champion". WWE. 20 February 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  15. ^ "THREE MORE WWE NXT RELEASES CONFIRMED | PWInsider.com".
  16. ^ "Alexander Wolfe's Contract Was About to Expire, How Long Are the NXT Non-Compete Clauses?". 21 May 2021.
  17. ^ Moore, John (22 August 2021). "NXT Takeover 36 results: Moore's live review of Karrion Kross vs. Samoa Joe for the NXT Championship, Raquel Gonzalez vs. Dakota Kai for the NXT Women's Title, Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly in a best of three falls match, Walter vs. Ilja Dragunov for the NXT UK Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  18. ^ "Another Title Change At WWE NXT Halloween Havoc". Wrestling Inc. 26 October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  19. ^ "Gunther And Ludwig Kaiser Arrive On WWE SmackDown". Wrestling Inc. 8 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  20. ^ "WWE SmackDown Results – 5/27/22 (Ronda Rousey, KO-Show)". WrestleView. 2 October 2019. pp. 163–168. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  21. ^ Powell, Jason (10 June 2022). "6/10 WWE Friday Night Smackdown results: Powell's review of Riddle vs. Sami Zayn (Riddle earns a title shot if he wins or is barred from Smackdown if he loses), Ricochet vs. Gunther for the Intercontinental Title, Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus and Lacey Evans vs. Xia Li in Money in the Bank qualifiers". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  22. ^ "WWE Clash at the Castle Results – 9/3/22 (Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre)". WrestleView. 3 September 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  23. ^ "Imperium Reforms At WWE Clash At The Castle, Gunther Retains Intercontinental Championship". Fightful. 3 September 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  24. ^ Powell, Jason (8 October 2022). "WWE Extreme Rules results: Powell's review of Matt Riddle vs. Seth Rollins in a Fight Pit match with Daniel Cormier as special referee, Bianca Belair vs. Bayley in a ladder match for the Raw Women's Title, Liv Morgan vs. Ronda Rousey in an Extreme Rules match for the Smackdown Women's Title, Drew McIntyre vs. Karrion Kross in a strap match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  25. ^ Miller, Gregory (2 April 2023). "Gunther evolves into "The WrestleMania General" in win over Drew McIntyre and Sheamus". WWE. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  26. ^ Barnett, Jake (28 April 2023). "4/28 WWE Friday Night Smackdown results: Barnett's review of the WWE Draft night one, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs. Jimmy and Jey Uso for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles, Zelina Vega vs. Sonya Deville". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  27. ^ Bath, Dave (28 April 2023). "WWE SmackDown live results: The WWE Draft begins". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  28. ^ Pulido, Luis (6 April 2024). "WWE WrestleMania XL Night One (4/6/2024) Results: Rollins & Rhodes vs Reigns & The Rock, More Set". Fightful Dot Com. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  29. ^ Russell, Skylar (22 April 2024). "Ludwig Kaiser Turns On Giovanni Vinci Following Loss To New Day On 4/22 WWE Raw". Fightful.
  30. ^ Powell, Jason (30 April 2024). "WWE Draft Tracker: The full list of wrestlers to Raw and Smackdown". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on 30 April 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  31. ^ a b "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2019". profightdb.com. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  32. ^ a b "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2020". profightdb.com. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  33. ^ "PROGRESS Chapter 55 results: Pete Dunne vs. Travis Banks". WON/F4W - WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, UFC News, UFC results. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  34. ^ "United Kingdom Championship". WWE. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  35. ^ "NXT Tag Team Championship". WWE. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  36. ^ "BONUS SHOW: Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards". Post Wrestling. 17 March 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  37. ^ Meltzer, Dave (5 March 2020). "March 13, 2020 Observer Newsletter: 40th Annual Awards Issue". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
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