{"id":44683,"date":"2019-04-23T14:36:47","date_gmt":"2019-04-23T18:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=44683"},"modified":"2019-06-08T15:44:30","modified_gmt":"2019-06-08T19:44:30","slug":"from-struggle-to-absolute-power-new-faction-debuts-at-nxt-uk-tapings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2019\/04\/23\/from-struggle-to-absolute-power-new-faction-debuts-at-nxt-uk-tapings\/","title":{"rendered":"From Struggle to Absolute Power: New Faction Debuts at NXT UK Tapings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A somewhat familiar European faction was reassembled at this past weekend&#8217;s NXT UK tapings in Glasgow, Scotland. Not a faction previously seen on <a href=\"http:\/\/wwe.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE<\/a> programming however, but a faction that has been a major part of Germany&#8217;s <strong>Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw)<\/strong> as well as throughout parts of the UK and beyond. WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER was united with former members of his wXw faction <strong>Ringkampf<\/strong> (which is still operational in wXw, with <strong>Timothy Thatcher<\/strong>) joined his side over the two nights of tapings to form a new unit known as <strong>Imperium<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"qme\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DieMatteIstHeilig?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#DieMatteIstHeilig<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NXTUK?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NXTUK<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CUEUoKtqEe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/CUEUoKtqEe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; RINGKAMPF (@RingkampfGER) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RingkampfGER\/status\/1119729864356106241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 20, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Ringkampf, which translates to &#8220;ring struggle&#8221; or more simply, &#8220;wrestling&#8221;, was originally a clothing line started by wXw stars <strong>Axel Dieter Jr.<\/strong> (Barthel Jr.), WALTER, <strong>Axel Tischer<\/strong> (Wolfe) and wXw promoter\u00a0<strong>Christian Micheal Jakobi<\/strong> in 2015. In early 2016, they decided to turn it into a stable within wXw, but Tischer had since signed with WWE and headed to NXT where he became Alexander Wolfe and joined <strong>SaNitY<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;We&#039;re here to restore the honour of this sport&quot;\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zM0HvvNoWys?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Originally a tag team consisting of WALTER and Dieter Jr. (and managed by Jakobi), they soon added a third member, when American grappler <strong>Timothy Thatcher,<\/strong> the then-reigning <strong>EVOLVE<\/strong> Champion, felt that Ringkampf&#8217;s motto, <em>&#8220;Die Matte Is Heilig<\/em>&#8221; (The mat is sacred), was his own belief. By late 2016, Thatcher was the third member of the group. As a trio, they competed throughout wXw and <strong>PROGRESS<\/strong>, until Dieter Jr. signed with WWE in 2017 and headed to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. He finally made his TV presence known last year, forming the tag team <strong>European Union<\/strong> with another European star in <strong>Fabian Aicher<\/strong>, and competing in both NXT and NXT UK.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FULL MATCH - Aichner &amp; Barthel vs. Andrews &amp; Webster: NXT UK, Jan. 16, 2019\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oia87B1tdyQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>With WALTER joining NXT UK earlier this year and since defeating <strong>Pete Dunne<\/strong> for the WWE UK Championship at <em><strong>NXT TakeOver: New York<\/strong><\/em>, the power has shifted to the mighty Austrian&#8217;s direction. In order to maintain his power, WALTER need to have absolute power &#8211; and thus Imperium was formed this weekend in Glasgow. First, on Friday night, he was joined by his former partner Marcel Barthel Jr. and his new partner Aichner, forming a new power trio.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/DeiOwen\/status\/1119324979483631616<\/p>\n<p>On the second night, former SaNitY member Wolfe &#8211; who had <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2019\/04\/16\/sanity-no-more-alexander-wolfe-says-goodbye\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">announced his goodbye to the WWE last week<\/a> &#8211; appeared and joined his old Ringkampf mates as well, turning Imperium (which is Latin for\u00a0<em>absolute power<\/em>) into the new dominance of the UK.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I never said I&#39;ll leave this company. <br \/>I said goodbye the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@wwe<\/a> <br \/>(RAW\/SD Live) because I am now <br \/>a part of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NXTUK?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@NXTUK<\/a>. <br \/>I may have lost my <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SAnitY?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#SAnitY<\/a> but <br \/>I found back my <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Imperium?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Imperium<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The mat is sacred. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NXTUKGlasgow?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NXTUKGlasgow<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NXTUK?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NXTUK<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Ringkampf?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Ringkampf<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DieMatteIstHeilig?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#DieMatteIstHeilig<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TheMatIsSacred?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#TheMatIsSacred<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fu6iXWLvtZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/fu6iXWLvtZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \ud835\udd6c\ud835\udd9d\ud835\udd8a\ud835\udd91 \ud835\udd6c\ud835\udd83\ud835\udd70\ud835\udd78\ud835\udd6c\ud835\udd79 \ud835\udd7f\ud835\udd8e\ud835\udd98\ud835\udd88\ud835\udd8d\ud835\udd8a\ud835\udd97 (@axeman3016) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/axeman3016\/status\/1119757924438507522?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 21, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A somewhat familiar European faction was reassembled at this past weekend&#8217;s NXT UK tapings in Glasgow, Scotland. Not a faction previously seen on WWE programming however, but a faction that has been a major part of Germany&#8217;s Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) as well as throughout parts of the UK and beyond. WWE United Kingdom Champion [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":649,"featured_media":28244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5336,3],"tags":[1877,1702,1248,5042,4140,2868,1590],"class_list":["post-44683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-nxt-uk","category-wwe-universe","tag-alexander-wolfe","tag-fabian-aichner","tag-walter","tag-imperium","tag-marcel-barthel","tag-nxt-uk","tag-ringkampf"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/649"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}