The Imperium

Imperium is a wrestling tag team that performs on WWE on Monday Night RAW. The group comprises European wrestlers led by the Ring General Gunther. The members are Gunther from Austria, Ludwig Kaiser from Germany, and Giovanni Vinci from Italy.

Gunther and Kaiser had teamed up in numerous European promotions and Vinci joined them in 2019 when the former two became a part of NXT UK. Former WWE Superstar Alexander Wolfe was also a member of the Imperium when it was first formed.

The Imperium History in WWE

From 2016 to 2019, there was a stable called Ringkampf which performed on several European promotions. It was composed of Timothy Thatcher, Christian Michael Jakobi, Gunther, and Ludwig Kaiser. The latter two stars then went by the names Walter and Axel Dieter Jr. respectively. The group mainly performed in wXw, but was disbanded in 2020 after Walter announced that he was not re-joining wXw.

The main idea of Imperium in WWE took root in 2019. Waler won the NXT United Kingdom Championship in April 2019 and in May 2019, he defended it against Pete Dunne, the previous champion. He managed to retain the gold after interferences from the European Union (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel). The three stars would soon announce themselves as a team known as Imperium. The next weeks saw fellow star Alexander Wolfe join the group.

The Imperium ensured that no star could pose a legitimate threat to Walter's WWE United Kingdom Championship reign. The title was renamed to the NXT UK Championship during his reign.

In May 2020, Barthel and Aichner defeated Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher to become the new NXT Tag Team Champions. The two lost it to Breezango in August of that year while Walter continued his impressive run at the top of the UK division. He held the title for an impressive 870 days before losing it to Ilja Dragunov at NXT TakeOver 36. This made him the longest-reigning champion in WWE history since 1988. However, Walter's record did not last long as it was broken by Roman Reigns in 2023 with his historic Universal Championship reign. In the meanwhile, Alexander Wolfe was attacked and kicked out of the group by Marchel Berthel and Fabian Aichner.

At Halloween Havoc 2021, Aichner and Berthel won the NXT Tag Team Titles for the second time after beating MSK. They held the golds for more than five months before losing it back to MSK at Stand and Deliver in a triple threat match also involving The Creed Brothers. The last NXT appearance of The Imperium came on the April 5, 2022 episode of NXT where Marcel and Aichner lost to The Creed Brothers and Walter lost to Bron Breakker.

Walter was then rebranded into Gunther. Also, Marcel Barthel was renamed to Ludwig Kaiser. The two superstars made their main roster debut on the April 8 episode of SmackDown. While the two continued to team together, they stopped using the name Imperium. Their first tag team match was on the May 27 episode of SmackDown where they defeated Ricochet and Drew Gulak.

On June 10, Gunther defeated Ricochet and became the new WWE Intercontinental Champion. Around the same time, Fabian Aichner was reintroduced in NXT as Giovanni Vinci. The champion was then scheduled to defend his title against Sheamus at Clash at the Castle. Before the bout, Kaiser announced the reunion of Imperium, while Vinci made his SmackDown debut.

During the buildup to Clash at the Castle, Imperium started feuding with The Brawling Brutes, who are perhaps their arch-nemesis. While Gunther retained the gold against Sheamus, Imperium lost to Brawling Brutes at Extreme Rules 2022 in a Six Man Tag Team Donnybrook Good Old Fashioned Match. At WrestleMania 39, Gunther defeated Sheamus and Drew McIntyre in a Triple Threat match to retain his Intercontinental Title.

During the 2023 WWE Draft in May, The Imperium was drafted to Monday Night RAW. This marked the first time the team had appeared on the red brand since 2019 when they invaded RAW as members of team NXT. Since then, Gunther has defended the title against the likes of Mustafa Ali, Matt Riddle, Drew McIntyre, and Chad Gable, breaking the record for longest reigning Intercontinental Champion, previously held by Honky Tonk Man, who held it for 454 days.

The Imperium Members

Gunther

Gunther is an Austrian professional wrestler who is the leader of The Imperium. His real name is Walter Hahn and he was born on August 20, 1987, in Vienna, Austria. He is the longest-reigning NXT United Kingdom Champion and also the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion in the history of WWE. Even more impressive is the fact that these two title reigns are the only times The Ring General has won a title in WWE.

He made his professional wrestling debut in Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) in May 2007 at the age of 19 and worked there and in other European promotions for more than a decade. ade. He joined WWE in 2019 and since then has proved himself to be one of the most dominating forces in WWE.

Ludwig Kaiser

Ludwig Kaiser is a German professional wrestler and the spokesperson of The Imperium. He previously worked in WWE under his real name Marcel Barthel. He was born on July 8, 1990, in Pinneberg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. He made his pro-wrestling debut at wXw in 2009 and would begin to team up with Walter in 2016. He worked under the name Axel Dieter Jr. before joining WWE.

He joined WWE in 2017 and started working under his real name. Barthel acted as the spokesperson for The Imperium and was renamed Ludwig Kaiser in 2022 when he was brought to the main roster.

Giovanni Vinci

Giovanni Vinci is an Italian professional wrestler currently signed to WWE and is a member of the Imperium. He earlier worked under his real name Fabian Aichner. Born on July 21, 1990, in South Tyrol, Italy, Vinci has also worked under the name Adrian Severe in Europe. He began his pro-wrestling career in 2011 and worked six years on the European independent circuit before joining WWE’s UK division in 2017.

He started working in WWE under his real name Fabian Aichner and was renamed to Giovanni Vinci in 2022. He worked as a singles wrestler in NXT for a while before joining his tag team partners on the main roster, reforming the Imperium.

Former Members - Alexandre Wolfe

Alexandre Wolfe (real name - Axel Tischer) is a German professional wrestler who was previously a member of the Imperium. He was born on November 5, 1986, and competed under his real name on the independent circuit before joining WWE as Alexandre Wolfe in 2015. Before joining Imperium, he was a member of Sanity for about four years. Wolfe joined Imperium in 2019 as the group’s fourth member and was kicked out by fellow teammates in 2021. He has been in the Indies since then.

Championships of The Imperium in WWE