Imperium (professional wrestling)


Imperium is a professional wrestling stable performing in WWE's NXT and NXT UK brands, consisting of leader Walter and Marcel Barthel, Fabian Aichner and Alexander Wolfe, with Barthel and Aichner being the current NXT Tag Team Champions and Walter being the current NXT United Kingdom Champion, all in their first reign.
The stable was formed in the German promotion Westside Xtreme Wrestling as Ringkampf, consisting in Walter, Barthel, Timothy Thatcher, and Christian Michael Jakobi and, during the following years, worked on several European promotions.
In 2019, Walter and Barthel signed with the WWE, having being assigned to the NXT UK brand and were paired with Aichner and Wolfe; the stable started to use the name Imperium, a new version of Ringkampf using the motto "The ring is sacred". During the stable's time in WWE, Walter became NXT United Kingdom Champion, while Barthel and Aichner became NXT Tag Team Champions.

History

Westside Xtreme Wrestling (2016-present)

The group debuted on 27 August 2016 as a tag team when Walter and Timothy Thatcher competed against A4 in wXw's World Tag Team League 2016 Qualifying in which they lost. The stable's first match occurred on 23 September 2016 when Axel Dieter Jr. teamed up with Walter and Thatcher defeated Da Mack, Francis Kaspin & John Klinger in a tag team match at the wXw Shotgun Live Tour in Ludwigshafen. Walter and Ringkampf stablemate Timothy Thatcher defeated Massive Product to win the wXw World Tag Team Championship in the finals of the 2017 wXw World Tag Team League on 8 October 2017. On 11 March Walter and Thatcher lost the wXw Tag Titles to Da Mack and John Klinger.

Progress Wrestling (2017-present)

At Chapter 47, Ringkampf challenged British Strong Style for all of their championships, in a six-man tag team match, unsuccessfully challenging all of them. Walter defeated Matt Riddle to win the Progress Atlas Championship at Chapter 51: Screaming For Progress at the O2 Academy Birmingham. He lost the title to Riddle a little over a month later on a Progress card in New York City., but recaptured it at Chapter 55: Chase The Sun at Alexandra Palace in a Three Way match that also involved Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher. At Chapter 68: Super Strong Style 16 Tournament Edition 2018, Walter vacated the Atlas title in order to chase the PROGRESS world title, held by Travis Banks. At Chapter 74: Mid Week Matters, he defeated Banks to win the title.

WWE (2019-present)

NXT UK (2019-present)

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, thus establishing himself as a heel and reuniting Ringkampf under the new name Imperium. The faction would later be joined by Alexander Wolfe, after he interfered in a match pitting Imperium against British Strong Style. On the June 26 episode of NXT UK, Walter retained his title against Travis Banks. On the July 3 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 August 31 at, Walter retained his title against Tyler Bate. The match was highly acclaimed, earning a 5.25 star rating from Dave Meltzer, making it the third match in WWE history to break the 5 star rating system.
In the build-up for the NXT UK and NXT co-branded pay-per-view, Worlds Collide, Imperium began feuding with The Undisputed Era, which was further intensified during the closing moments of on January 12, 2020, when the group attacked Imperium following Walter's successful title defense against Joe Coffey. During Walter's reign the following week, the WWE United Kingdom Championship was renamed to NXT United Kingdom Championship and he was presented with a slightly updated belt design, replacing the WWE logo at the center with the NXT UK logo. On May 13, 2020, Barthel and Aichner defeated Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher to win the NXT Tag team Championship. The duo retained with success the titles against Fandango and Tyler Breeze.

Members

Current

MemberJoinedNotes
WalterLeader
Marcel BarthelKnown as Axel Dieter Jr. from 2016-2019
Fabian Aichner
Alexander Wolfe

Former members

Championships and accomplishments