Imperium On Their Transition From NXT to NXT 2.0, Goals As a Group

While Imperium is split up now with two of the members on the Smackdown roster, they have had a wild journey through WWE and discussed their run in a recent interview. Gunther, Fabian Aichner, and Marcel Barthel (now Ludwig Kaiser) spoke with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp before they were split up talking about their ride through WWE as a group, Malcolm Bivens and more. You can check out some highlights below:

Aichner on the group’s journey through WWE: “It’s been a crazy journey, obviously. Things have changed a lot in the last five years. What speaks for us is that we’re authentic and that’s why it still works nowadays. It doesn’t matter if it’s NXT, NXT 2.0, RAW, SmackDown. It doesn’t matter where we go, I think we stay true to ourselves and we’re gonna keep doing that in the future. I’m looking forward to it.”

Barthel on how Imperium transitioned from NXT to NXT 2.0: “Absolutely. You hit the nail on the head. I can just say that. It’s been a crazy transition for all of us because when we first started is very different to now. I’m not even rating that, better or worse, but I just said before, Fabian and I have been here for three / four years before the 2.0 transition. I think we were one of the few winners of that transition. Because it actually showed how much work we put in. So many other guys coming in all of a sudden, the difference between them and us is very clear. I think we’re absolute winners of that transition. Keep going.”

Gunther on the group’s goals: “I think the goal for us is to represent what we stand for whenever we can on the biggest platform possible. I think that has always driven us. That won’t change. I think ten years ago we had the same beliefs of what we want to be as wrestlers or what we want to represent in this sport. We just stuck with that and it’s not gonna change. It’s gonna take us to places, for sure.”

Barthel on the group’s authenticity: “I think that’s what makes us special as well. It is authenticity. It is passion. I think stuff like that you can tell if it’s fake. People do realize if you’re playing something or you’re actually passionate about what you do. I can tell you we’re very happy to be here, but if you would have asked us ten years ago, ‘What do you want to do?’ We would have been just that. We want to travel, we want to wrestle, we want to be with our guys, people we trust and live what we always wanted to live—professional wrestling. That’s what we do.”

Gunther on Malcolm Bivens claiming Gunther was ducking him: “Do you think so? Nah, I’m not sure if I do … No. I find it quite entertaining actually. He’s a very entertaining guy. But yeah, if he wants a slap or two, he can let me know. We can make that happen actually.”