Ludwig Kaiser Says It Was His And Gunther’s Idea To Split

Ludwig Kaiser and Gunther have been tied together since before their time in WWE, forming Ringkampf in wXw with Timothy Thatcher and then Imperium with Giovanni Vinci in WWE.

In 2025, Kaiser and Gunther quietly split with Kaiser no longer appearing alongside Gunther.

Speaking on the Kennt jeder podcast with Hamad Firdousi (via Wrestletalk), Kaiser gave insight as to why they split.

“I think I have never said this in public, but it was Gunther’s and my idea.

“You see, Imperium originated in wXw as Ringkampf, even though it was set up differently. We were all on the same level, but with different characters. Timothy Thatcher was the roughneck for the dirty work. I was the arrogant young boy. WALTER (Gunther) was the slaughterer to kill everyone. Imperium was a different dynamic. Gunther was the main guy and I was part of the tag team.

“Gunther is insane, he unlocks something in people that only few can. You need to know your place. My job was to make his act better and not take anything away. But at some point you want more and you get to a point where you want more. But if you keep walking behind Gunther, I remain the tag team guy. We realized something needs to change, so we did.

“Of course there is a risk, but in America you need to bank on yourself and on your skills. You need to have the balls to do that. You will get that chance, you need to use it. I would say for myself I did just that.”

Kaiser may or may not be the man under the El Grande Americano mask.

Gunther has been off WWE TV since losing the WWE World Heavyweight Title at WWE SummerSlam.