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Imperium has been one of the top factions in all of WWE for some time now. Led by the mighty WALTER, the faction comprises Marcel Barthel, Fabian Aichner, and Alexander Wolfe. NXT and NXT UK have both played hosts to the rivalries and matches involving the faction since May 2019.
NXT’s premier faction, Undisputed ERA, imploded not too long ago after Adam Cole betrayed his brothers. Now that Undisputed ERA is out of the way, it is time for WALTER and his men to march ahead and become the top faction in NXT.
Vignettes for Imperium’s return to NXT have aired over the past few weeks, and members of the faction made their presence felt during last week’s episode of the show. However, WALTER was missing during the broadcast and could make a major statement upon his return.
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WALTER is one of the hardest-hitting men in WWE, and he could return to target a few WWE and NXT Superstars upon his return. Since many men have a history with WALTER or are looking to face him in the ring, let’s take a look at five Superstars who The Ring General could target upon his return.
#5 Tommaso Ciampa could set his sights on WWE NXT UK Champion WALTER
Last week on WWE NXT, Imperium arrived on stage during a match between the teams of Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch, and Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher. While Thatcher and Ciampa nearly had the match in the bag, the distraction allowed the NXT Tag Team Champions to capitalize and pick up the victory.
Timothy Thatcher wasn’t too happy with the outcome of the match and wanted to know why Ciampa missed a tag from him. Later in the night, Ciampa told the reporter backstage that Imperium was in Thatcher’s past and should not bother him now.
However, that could very well change in the coming weeks. Imperium could continue to stalk Ciampa and Thatcher until WALTER shows up on NXT. The WWE Universe can then watch WALTER target and take out Ciampa just to gain access to Thatcher in the weeks to come.
Fans could get a good rivalry on NXT between Ciampa and WALTER and the NXT UK Championship could also be put on the line during the contests.
Not only will the rivalry help WALTER and his title, but it will also help the former NXT Champion gain more prominence and get some good matches. Since Ciampa is someone who can have good rivalries at the top, WWE can rely on him to have a good rivalry against WALTER soon.
#4 Timothy Thatcher and WWE NXT UK Champion WALTER have a past
Do you know about Timothy Thatcher’s past before he made his way to WWE NXT? Thatcher is one of the top men in NXT who has been seen tagging with Tommaso Ciampa in recent months.
However, Ciampa is just Thatcher’s temporary tag team partner, and the Superstar has a long history with NXT UK Champion WALTER. WALTER and Thatcher worked in Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) together and had some great matches.
That’s not all, as they won the wXw World Tag Team Championships together while working for the promotion under the team name Ringkampf. The duo held the titles for over five months in wXw.
WALTER was one of the first men to welcome Thatcher to the Performance Center when he signed with WWE. The Ring General’s men stared him down during his most recent tag team match against Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch.
The Ring General could make a return soon and target Thatcher before forcing him to rejoin him and become a part of Imperium. The entire storyline could end up being great for NXT, especially after Undisputed ERA’s implosion.
#3 WWE legend Edge has expressed his desire to face WALTER
WWE legend Edge is scheduled for a big match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 37. The two men will compete for the Univeral Championship at the Show of Shows. While Edge is one of the favorites to defeat Reigns for the title, the match could go either way.
If Edge loses the match, fans could watch him go to NXT for some interesting rivalries in the months to come. Edge has already expressed his desire to face some top NXT talent including Finn Balor, Kyle O’Reilly, and the mighty WALTER.
"I think Brock knows how and you saw two minutes of that. That's fun. God, you can look at that UK: [Tyler] Bate, Walter and I know I'm forgetting names. Shane Thorn, I'd love to get in there with him. I'd love to get in and really really just see what they got and see and try and give them some tools to take it to the next level. You know what I mean? And and there's so much untapped potential there. Roddy [Roderick Strong], [Bobby] Fish and [Kyle] O'Reilly just give me a partner. There's just there's so much there."
WALTER could take out Edge on his next NXT appearance and set up towards a big match. The two could end up competing for the NXT UK Championship without having Edge move to the UK for the rivalry.
WWE will be looking to use Edge for some big rivalries and to help push some talent before he calls it a day. This could lead to a massive rivalry between The Ring General and The Rated-R Superstar in WWE.
#2 WWE NXT Champion Finn Balor and WALTER have a pending rivalry
Finn Balor is one of the biggest Superstars in WWE today. The Prince of NXT has proven himself to be one of the finest workers in the ring, and that has earned him the respect of legends like Triple H and Edge.
Balor has a few dream matches pending for him, and one of those includes a match against WALTER. Before COVID-19 hit the industry, WWE was building towards this dream match for the NXT UK Championship. However, things have changed since then and Balor himself is the NXT Champion now.
However, The Prince is still interested in a match against WALTER and has even spoken about how a title unification match would be interesting.
“Of course, title unification interests me, of course, title vs title interests me, if you can be a dual champion, that interests me. But most importantly, WALTER interests me, I feel like that’s one of the matches I look forward to the most.”
Balor vs. WALTER will be nothing short of a five-star match, and Imperium’s return to NXT signals towards the return of WATLER to the WWE brand. He could come in and restart his rivalry against The Prince that could turn out to be excellent for the Black & Gold brand.
#1 Drew McIntyre could be targeted by WWE NXT UK Champion WALTER
Drew McIntyre has become one of the biggest names in WWE over the past couple of years. McIntyre has done well to become the face of RAW for some time and has had two great WWE Championship reigns since 2020. While The Scottish Warrior could get back in contention for the WWE Championship, the creatives could decide to do something different with him.
Vince Russo, who worked for WWE as a head writer in the past, spoke to Dr. Chris Featherstone on SK Wrestling’s Writing With Russo. He wanted to see McIntyre go back to Scotland to prepare for a match against Bobby Lashley.
“Bro, when Drew loses it, let him go back to Scotland. I’m gonna go back to the beginning and let’s see that kind of training. Scotland’s a beautiful country, let’s see that.
Russo’s idea is certainly interesting, but WWE could use the same idea to bring him back for a reign in WWE NXT. WALTER could come out with Imperium and target McIntyre on an episode of RAW, injuring him in the process.
McIntyre could then go on a hiatus and return to NXT to have a rivalry with The Ring General WALTER soon. McIntyre has already expressed his desire to work in NXT UK for some time.
“I’ve said in a few interviews that I bother Triple H every so often to let me get back to NXT UK and do something with him (Walter) because I came up in UK wrestling when there was no UK wrestling scene. I used to travel 12 hours just to learn to wrestle.”
Since McIntyre himself is interested in facing WALTER, the storyline could take off really well. WWE could end up building a great rivalry around this and possibly boost the ratings of NXT.
