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 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 Bate.[7]

In the build-up for the NXT UK and NXT co-branded pay-per-view, Worlds Collide, Imperium began feuding with The Undisputed Era (NXT Champion Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, and NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly), which was further intensified during the closing moments of NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II on January 12, 2020, when the group attacked Imperium following Walter's successful title defense against Joe Coffey.[8][9] 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.[10] On May 13, 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 August 26 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 May 18 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 would later lose 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 April 5 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.

On April 8, 2022, Imperium debuted on SmackDown for the first time with Gunther alongside Barthel (now going by Ludwig Kaiser) winning his first match there as well.[19]