Imperium (professional wrestling)

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.

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. marked their Return to Raw after a 4 year hiatus during NXT's Invasion of Raw on November 11, 2019.[26][27]