Ludwig Kaiser

Real Name: Marcel Barthel
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 220 lbs.
Date of Birth: July 8, 1990
From: Pinneberg, Germany
Pro Debut: March 1, 2008
Trained By: Axel Dieter, Christian Eckstein & Karsten Kretschmer
Finishing Move: Landungsbrücken

Biography

– Barthel began his career as ‘Axel Dieter Jr’, an homage to his father who had competed under the name from the late 1950s to the early 1980s
– In his debut match, Axel Dieter Jr took Da Mack to a 15-minute time-limit draw at an NFC event in Hamburg, Germany
– On December 3, 2010, Dieter Jr defeated Da Mack in a Ladder Match in the final of a tournament to become the first NFC First Fighter Champion
– On May 21, 2011, Dieter Jr defeated CWN Mittelgewichtsmeisterschaft Champion Sean Maxer Brennan by DQ
– On June 18, Dieter Jr defeated Rene Cardinal to retain the NFC First Fighter Title
– On October 8, Dieter Jr defeated Chaos to win the PWF North-European Title
– On November 19, Dieter Jr defeated Scotty Saxon & Kool Krede to retain the PWF North-European Title
– On February 24, 2012, Dieter Jr fought Tito Santana to a no-contest to retain the PWF North-European Title
– On March 3, Dieter Jr defeated Da Mack to win the International NCW Cruiserweight Title
– On June 2, Dieter Jr fought Leon Van Gasteren to a draw to retain the International NCW Cruiserweight Title
– On October 19, Dieter Jr defeated Demolition Davies to retain the PWF North-European Title
– On September 28, 2013, Hot And Spicy (Dieter Jr & Da Mack) defeated Michael Kovac & Big Van Walter to win the EWP Tag Team Titles
– On November 16, Hot And Spicy defeated The AUTSiders (Big Van Walter & Robert Dreissker) to win the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On November 23, Hot And Spicy defeated The Sumerian Death Squad (Michael Dante & Tommy End) to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On November 30, Hot And Spicy defeated Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov & Rocky Romero) to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On December 7, Hot And Spicy defeated Monster Trucks (Andre Trucker & Jaxx) and Ivan Kiev & Koray to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On January 18, 2014, Hot And Spicy defeated Ryuichi Kawakami & Kazuki Hashimoto to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On February 15, Hot And Spicy defeated Champions Of Champions (John Klinger & Absolute Andy) to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On February 22, Hot And Spicy defeated Calamari Catch Club (Jonathan Gresham & Chris Brookes) to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On February 28, Hot And Spicy defeated The Piledrivers (Sha Samuels & Karsten Beck) to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On March 8, Hot And Spicy defeated The Decent Society (Salsakid Rambo & Crazy Sexy Mike) and Grid Iron (Chris Rush & Aaron Insane) to win the GSW Tag Team Titles
– On March 14, Hot And Spicy defeated The Inner City Machine Guns (Rich Swann & Ricochet) to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles. They would lose the titles to Matt Striker & Trent a day later, before regaining them again the following day
– On April 5, Hot And Spicy defeated French Flavour (Peter Fischer & Lucas Di Leo) to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On April 13, Dieter Jr defeated Karsten Beck, Da Mack & Big Daddy Walter in an Elimination Match to win the 2014 wXw Mitteldeutschland Cup
– On April 26, Hot And Spicy (Dieter Jr & Da Mack) defeated The Reign Of Terror (Jon Ryan & Johnny Moss) by DQ to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On May 3, Hot And Spicy defeated Gebruder Schild (Robert & Vincent Schild) to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On May 31, Hot And Spicy defeated Keel Holding (Aaron Insane & Kim Ray) to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On June 22, Dieter Jr, Chris Brookes, Tyler Bate, Sam Bailey, Sexy Kev & Zack Sabre Jr defeated Damien Dunne, Pete Dunne, Morgan Webster, Ian Field, Damon Leigh & Bobby Cash in an Elimination Match. Dieter Jr scored the decisive fall to win the Great Bear Grand Title
– On August 8, Hot And Spicy (Dieter Jr & Da Mack) defeated Keel Holding (Sasa Keel & Aaron Insane) by DQ to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On October 5, Hot And Spicy defeated Calamari Catch Kings (Jonathan Gresham & Chris Brookes) to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On October 11, Hot And Spicy defeated Keel Holding (Sasa Keel & Aaron Insane) to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– The next day, Hot And Spicy defeated Tom Prichard & Kim Ray to retain the wXw Tag Team Titles
– On February 14, 2015, Dieter Jr defeated Chris Brookes to retain the Great Bear Grand Title
– On February 28, Dieter Jr defeated Timothy Thatcher in the final of a tournament to win the 2015 wXw Four Nations Cup
– On March 21, Dieter Jr defeated CJ Banks to retain the Great Bear Grand Title
– On November 14, Dieter Jr defeated Jack Gallagher to retain the Great Bear Grand Title
– On March 26, 2016, Dieter Jr defeated Josh Bodom to retain the Great Bear Grand Title
– On December 10, Dieter Jr defeated Marty Scurll to win the wXw Unified World Title
– On January 14, 2017, Dieter Jr defeated Jurn Simmons by DQ to retain the wXw Unified World Title
– On January 27, Dieter Jr defeated Jurn Simmons to retain the wXw Unified World Title
– The next day, Dieter Jr defeated Marty Scurll to retain the wXw Unified World Title
– On February 3, Dieter Jr defeated Jurn Simmons to retain the wXw Unified World Title
– In May 2017, Barthel signed with WWE and would report to NXT a month later
– Barthel (under his real name) made his WWE debut at an NXT live event on June 22, 2017, losing to Roderick Strong
– Barthel made his televised debut on the August 8, 2018 episode of NXT, losing to Keith Lee
– In late 2018, Barthel began teaming with Fabian Aichner
– In mid-2019, Barthel & Aichner aligned with WALTER to form the Imperium stable
– On the December 12, 2019 episode of NXT UK, Imperium (Barthel & Aichner) fought NXT UK Tag Team Champions Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) to a no-contest
– At Worlds Collide 2020, Imperium (Barthel, Fabian Aichner, Alexander Wolfe & WALTER) defeated The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish & Roderick Strong)
– On the May 13, 2020 episode of NXT, Imperium (Barthel & Aichner) defeated Matt Riddle & Timothy Thatcher to win the NXT Tag Team Titles
– On the June 17 episode, Imperium defeated Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango) to retain the NXT Tag Team Titles
– On the August 5 episode, Imperium defeated The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) to retain the NXT Tag Team Titles
– At Halloween Havoc 2021, Imperium defeated MSK (Nash Carter & Wes Lee) in a Lumberjack-o-lantern Match to regain the NXT Tag Team Titles
– At WarGames 2021, Imperium defeated Kyle O’Reilly & Von Wagner to retain the NXT Tag Team Titles
– At Roadblock 2022, Imperium defeated MSK (Nash Carter & Wes Lee) by DQ to retain the NXT Tag Team Titles
– In May 2022, Barthel debuted on Smackdown as ‘Ludwig Kaiser’, realigning himself with WALTER (now renamed Gunther)
– In his Smackdown debut on the May 27, 2022 episode, Kaiser teamed with Gunther to defeat Drew Gulak & Ricochet
– In September 2022, Kaiser & Gunther were joined by Giovanni Vinci (the former Fabian Aichner) to reform the Imperium stable