The Imperium (professional wrestling)

The Imperium (also stylized as IMPERIUM), also known as Ringkampf are a professional wrestling villainous stable signed with the U.S.-based promotion WWE and German-based Westside Xtreme Wrestling, consisting of Walter as leader, Alexander Wolfe, Marcel Barthel, and Fabian Aichner. They currently compete on the NXT, and NXT UK brands. The team also competes in Progress Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Guerilla promotions.
The stable debuted in 2016 in which Walter, Bathrel, Aichner, Timothy Thatcher and Christan Jakobi were the founding members of the team.
Concept
Each member of Imperium/Ringkampf is a European-born wrestler. The name Imperium, is derived from the Latin translation meaning "absolute power" and its trademark motto is "The mat is sacred" ().
History
Westside Xtreme Wrestling
The group first debuted on 27 August 2016 as a tag team when Walter and Timothy Thatcher competed against A4 (Absoulte Andy and Marius Al-Ani) in wXw's World Tag Team League 2016 Qualifying in which they lost. The stable's first match occured 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.
The following week Walter confronted Pete Dunne and Joe Coffey in ring. Although he did not say anything, he made his intentions for Dunne’s WWE UK Championship quite clear. On the edition of 2 February 2019 of NXT UK Walter made his in ring debut against Jack Starz. He beat Starz in under four minutes. At NXT TakeOver: New York, Walter defeated Dunne to win the United Kingdom Championship, ending Dunne's record setting reign at 685 days.
On 22 May 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 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 (the team of Dunne, Tyler Bate, and Trent Seven). 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 NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff, Walter retained his title against Tyler Bate.
Imperium appeared on the 18 September episode of NXT (the show's debut on the USA Network) where they attacked Performance Center recruit Denzel Dejournette. Walter cut a promo before the group was confronted by Kushida. Later that night, Imperium got involved in a backstage brawl during the Street Fight main event between Matt Riddle and Killian Dain which ended up at ringside.
At the SmackDown and Raw tapings held on 8 November (where the former aired), Imperium attacked The Heavy Machinery in a buildup for Survivor Series pay-per-view only to be chased away by the SmackDown roster. The next Monday on an episode of Raw, Imperium competed in an 8-man tag team match against Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens and Street Profits, in which the team lost.
Championships and accomplishments
*WWE
**WWE United Kingdom Championship - Walter (1 time, current)
*Westside Xtreme Wrestling
**wXw World Tag Team Championship - Walter (1), Thatcher (1)
 
< Prev   Next >