After much speculation this week, WWE went ahead and had Imperium’s Gunther & Ludwig Kaiser (fka Walter & Marcel Barthel) make their main roster debut on this week’s episode of SmackDown. During NXT 2.0, Fabian Aichner was dropped from the stable, so it’s likely he will stay on the brand for a solo run. Gunther is a record breaking NXT UK Champion, while Kaiser won NXT tag team gold twice with Aichner.
Gunther previously appeared on the main roster in a Survivor Series match back in 2019, representing team NXT. He defeated a jobber called Joe Alonzo on SmackDown, as fans chanted “Walter”. According to Michael Cole, Gunther is now pronounced “Goon-ther”.