Misplaced Pages

#100899

49-457: During the 2021 WWE Draft , Ridge Holland was drafted from NXT to SmackDown . On the November 19 episode of SmackDown , Holland helped Sheamus defeat Cesaro , Ricochet , and Jinder Mahal in a four-way match , starting an alliance between the two. On January 1, 2022, at Day 1 , Holland would team with Sheamus to defeat Cesaro and Ricochet, however, during the match, Holland would suffer

98-541: A broken nose and would be removed mid-match. In March, they would enter a feud with The New Day , where on the March 11 episode of SmackDown , Sheamus and Holland introduced Butch as part of their stable. After an overhead belly-to-belly suplex by Holland on Big E legitimately broke the latter's neck, Big E was promptly removed from the rivalry, leaving only Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods . On Night 2 of WrestleMania 38 , Holland and Sheamus defeated Kingston and Woods in

147-537: A definitive roster division between Raw and SmackDown. Imperium (professional wrestling) Imperium is a European villainous professional wrestling tag team consisting of leader Gunther of Austria and Ludwig Kaiser of Germany . They are currently signed to WWE , where they perform on the Raw brand . Gunther is the current World Heavyweight Champion in his first reign. Previously working for several European promotions, including together as part of

196-474: A match the following week to determine the definitive number one contender. The match, however ended in a no-contest after Imperium interfered and attacked both men. WWE Official Adam Pearce appeared and announced that Gunther would defend his championship against both men in a triple threat match at the event. Gunther retained the championship in a highly-praised match. The Brawling Brutes entered into feuds with Pretty Deadly and The Judgment Day throughout

245-494: A release from her contract. On February 24, 2022, it was reported that Cesaro and WWE had failed to agree on new contract terms and that he had quietly left WWE when his contract expired, ending his 11-year tenure in the company. At WrestleMania 38 in April 2022, SmackDown's Universal Champion Roman Reigns defeated Raw's WWE Champion Brock Lesnar to win both championships, thus allowing Reigns to appear on both brands as

294-479: A rematch ending his historic reign at 870 days. At NXT: Halloween Havoc , Aichner and Berthel regained the NXT Tag Team Championship by defeating MSK . They later lost the titles back to MSK at Stand & Deliver the following year, in a triple threat match that also involved The Creed Brothers . Their final NXT appearance was on the 5 April episode of NXT when Aichner and Barthel faced

343-727: A slow face turn for their stable. At Clash at the Castle , Sheamus lost to Gunther, but received a standing ovation from the Cardiff crowd in a critically acclaimed 5-star match according to Dave Meltzer 's Wrestling Observer Newsletter , cementing the stable's face turn. On the September 23 episode of SmackDown , Holland and Butch faced The Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship but were unsuccessful after interference from Imperium , then on

392-537: A tag team against Drew Gulak and Ricochet , with Kaiser pinning Gulak for the win. On the 10 June episode of SmackDown , Gunther defeated Ricochet to win the Intercontinental Championship , making him the first Austrian to win the title. Prior to Gunther's title defense at Clash at the Castle , Kaiser announced the reformation of Imperium by reintroducing Aichner, now known as Giovanni Vinci. Gunther subsequently defeated Sheamus to retain

441-520: A tag team match at the wXw Shotgun Live Tour in Ludwigshafen . Ringkampf also wrestled for Progress Wrestling . At Chapter 47, Ringkampf (Walter, Dieter and Thatcher) challenged British Strong Style ( Pete Dunne , Trent Seven and Tyler Bate ) for all of their championships, in a six-man tag team match, but they were unsuccessful. In October 2020, Walter announced he would close Ringkampf since he, Wolfe and Barthel wouldn't work for wXw. On

490-518: A tag team match. On the August 19 episode of SmackDown , Sheamus won a fatal five-way match , earning a match against Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship at Clash at the Castle . The following week on SmackDown , Sheamus and Gunther had a confrontation, in which Sheamus and Gunther's respective allies, Butch and Ludwig Kaiser , engaged in a brawl while Sheamus and Gunther remained motionless, staring each other down, and eventually started

539-504: The 2023 WWE Draft , Imperium were drafted to the Raw brand . This marked their return to Raw since their last appearance during NXT 's invasion of Raw on November 11, 2019. On April 6, 2024, Gunther lost the title to Sami Zayn at WrestleMania XL Night 1 ending his record setting Intercontinental Championship reign at 666 days, becoming the WWE Superstar with the longest combined Intercontinental Championship reign (breaking

SECTION 10

#1732798121101

588-519: The 18 May episode of NXT , after Wolfe was defeated by Killian Dain , he was attacked by Aichner and Barthel, thus kicking him out of the faction. This was done to write him off television as Wolfe's WWE contract was due to expire the following June; he was subsequently among the group of NXT talent released from their contracts the following day. At NXT TakeOver 36 , Walter dropped the United Kingdom Championship to Dragunov in

637-461: The 2021 draft were rehired. These included Mia Yim returning on Raw (aligning with the recently-reunited O.C. stable in their feud with The Judgment Day), and Hit Row (Ashante Adonis, Top Dolla, and B-Fab), Tegan Nox, and Karrion Kross and his real-life fiancé, Scarlett, returning on SmackDown. Nia Jax made a one-night return at the 2023 Royal Rumble , where she was the #30 entrant in the women's Royal Rumble match, being eliminated by all other women in

686-690: The 2021 draft. Like the first night, both brands had two picks each round. WWE officials Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville again announced the draft picks. These picks were announced on the October 4 episode of Raw Talk . Within WWE storyline, a "free agent" referred to a contracted wrestler who had not been assigned to one of the company's five brands at the time—Raw, SmackDown, NXT, NXT UK , or 205 Live (the latter two were subdivisions of NXT). Several wrestlers were made free agents due to injury, inactivity, or simply not being drafted despite being an active member of

735-400: The 2021 draft. Unlike previous drafts in which Raw received three picks and SmackDown only received two, both brands had two picks each round. WWE officials Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville announced the draft picks. These picks were announced on October 1 via WWE's social media accounts and on the October 2 episode of Talking Smack . There were six rounds of draft picks during night 2 of

784-479: The 22 May 2019 episode of NXT UK , Walter won a rematch for the United Kingdom Championship against Dunne, after interference by the European Union (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel), thus establishing himself as a heel. They would form a faction under the name Imperium . The faction would later be joined by Alexander Wolfe, after he interfered in a match pitting Imperium against British Strong Style. On

833-471: The 26 June episode of NXT UK , Walter retained his title against Travis Banks . On the 3 July episode of NXT UK , Imperium interfered in Moustache Mountain 's title match against Grizzled Young Veterans therefore making Grizzled Young Veterans retain their titles. After the match, they injured Tyler Bate. On 31 August at NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff , Walter retained his title against Bate. In

882-466: The American professional wrestling promotion WWE while a brand extension , or brand split, is in effect. The original brand extension occurred from 2002 to 2011, while the second and current brand split began in 2016. During a brand extension, the company divides its roster into brands where the wrestlers exclusively perform for each brand's respective television show, and the draft is used to refresh

931-563: The Brutes. On the March 10, 2023 episode of SmackDown , Sheamus and McIntyre competed in a fatal five-way match where the winner would challenge Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 39 ; the match ended with both men being declared the winner as their respective pin attempts were counted simultaneously. The pair argued after the match as confusion surrounding the result ensued. They faced off in

980-572: The Creed brothers in a losing effort, with Aichner walking out of their match, and Gunther facing NXT Champion Bron Breakker in a losing effort. On 8 April 2022, Gunther and Barthel (now going by Ludwig Kaiser) debuted on SmackDown for the first time with Gunther defeating Joe Alonzo in his first match; while their association was maintained, the Imperium name was dropped. On the 27 May episode of SmackDown , Gunther and Kaiser made their debut as

1029-437: The Intercontinental Championship, and since then Imperium has been involved in a feud with Sheamus' group The Brawling Brutes . At Extreme Rules on 8 October Imperium lost to The Brawling Brutes in a Six Man Tag Team Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook match. In Night 2 of WrestleMania 39 , Gunther successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Sheamus and Drew McIntyre in a triple threat match . As part of

SECTION 20

#1732798121101

1078-586: The NXT Bada Bing Bada Boom Tag Team Battle Royal and was eliminated by OTM. On the November 17 episode of SmackDown , visible dissension appeared between Holland and Butch after a loss to Street Profits . One week later, Holland walked out on Butch during a tag team match against Pretty Deadly , resulting in a loss in what would be their final match as a team. On the December 19 episode of NXT , Holland returned to

1127-529: The October 4 episode of Monday Night Raw (in Nashville, Tennessee ), with SmackDown airing on Fox and Raw on the USA Network . Unlike previous drafts, in which results took effect immediately, the results of the 2021 draft went into effect in the October 22 episode of SmackDown . This was also the last draft with Vince McMahon as head of WWE creative. The WWE Draft is an annual process used by

1176-553: The October 4 episode of NXT faced Pretty Deadly for the NXT Tag Team Championship in a losing effort after interference from Imperium . Four days later at Extreme Rules , The Brawling Brutes defeated Imperium in a six-man tag team Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook match . After defeating The Bloodline 's Sami Zayn and Solo Sikoa in a tag team match, Holland and Butch received another opportunity against The Usos at Crown Jewel where they failed to win

1225-635: The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, then in May 2022, SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) defeated Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro ( Randy Orton and Riddle ) to win both championships, thus allowing The Usos to appear on both brands as the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions. By proxy, this allowed other members of The Bloodline stable ( Sami Zayn , Solo Sikoa , who

1274-605: The WWE United Kingdom Championship was renamed to NXT United Kingdom Championship and Walter was presented with a slightly updated belt design, with the WWE logo at the center being replaced with the NXT UK logo. On 13 May 2020, Barthel and Aichner defeated Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher (a substitute for Pete Dunne) to win the NXT Tag team Championship after Thatcher walked out on Riddle. The duo lost

1323-550: The brand to challenge NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov for the title, thus confirming his departure from SmackDown. 2021 WWE Draft The 2021 WWE Draft was the 16th WWE Draft produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE between their Raw and SmackDown brand divisions . The two-night event began with the October 1 episode of Friday Night SmackDown (in Baltimore , Maryland ). It concluded with

1372-528: The build-up for the NXT UK and NXT co-branded pay-per-view, Worlds Collide , Imperium started a feud with The Undisputed Era ( NXT Champion Adam Cole , Roderick Strong , and NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly ), and during the final moments of NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II on 12 January 2020, the group attacked Imperium following Walter's successful title defense against Joe Coffey , thus further intensifying it. The following week,

1421-479: The day before the first night of the draft on October 1. Over 60 wrestlers (including tag teams) were eligible to be drafted across the two nights, with half being eligible the first night and the other half eligible the second night; however, no draft pools were revealed for which wrestlers were eligible for each night. Tag teams were counted as one pick unless Fox or USA Network officials (who were promoted as draft decision makers) specifically only wanted one member of

1470-461: The record previously held by Pedro Morales 's longest Intercontinental Championship reign at 617 days over two reigns). On the April 22, 2024 episode of Raw , after Vinci with Kaiser lost to The New Day, Kaiser attacked Vinci, kicking the latter out of Imperium in the process. Vinci's expulsion from the group was solidified when he was drafted to the SmackDown brand a week later during Night 2 of

1519-474: The ring. A draft was not held in 2022, and with multiple wrestlers appearing on both shows almost weekly, some sources believed that the brand split was coming to an end. Additionally, both of NXT's sub-brands, 205 Live and NXT UK, ceased operations in February and September, respectively, with most of those wrestlers moving over to NXT. However, in April 2023, Triple H announced the 2023 draft to bring back

The Brawling Brutes - Misplaced Pages Continue

1568-472: The rosters of the brand divisions, typically between the Raw and SmackDown brands. The 2021 draft was WWE's 16th draft and was officially announced during the September 13 episode of Raw . It was scheduled to occur during the October 1 and October 4 episodes of SmackDown and Raw , respectively, with SmackDown airing on Fox and Raw on the USA Network . The rules of the 2021 draft were revealed by WWE correspondent Megan Morant on Twitter during

1617-426: The rosters. Wrestlers who became free agents could ( kayfabe ) sign with the brand of their choosing. The chart is organized by date. During the draft, Raw drafted SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch while SmackDown drafted Raw Women's Champion Charlotte Flair . Neither lost their respective championship before the October 22 episode of SmackDown , the night that the draft results went into effect. The day of

1666-530: The show, WWE announced that Flair and Lynch would exchange titles to keep the championships on their respective brands while going off script. In turn, Lynch became the Raw Women's Champion while Flair became the SmackDown Women's Champion. Also during the draft, SmackDown drafted NXT North American Champion Isaiah "Swerve" Scott as part of his stable, Hit Row . Swerve claimed he would be taking

1715-442: The stable Ringkampf, Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser, then known as Walter and Marcel Barthel, respectively, signed with the WWE in 2019, having been assigned to the NXT UK brand and were paired with Giovanni Vinci, then known as Fabian Aichner, of Italy , and Alexander Wolfe of Germany; the stable started to use the name Imperium, with the motto of "The mat is sacred" ( German : Die Matte ist heilig ) imported from Ringkampf. During

1764-712: The stable's time in NXT, Walter became the longest-reigning NXT United Kingdom Champion , while Barthel and Aichner became two-time NXT Tag Team Champions . In May 2021, Wolfe was kicked out of Imperium, and Aichner departed the group in April the following year. In April 2022, Gunther and Kaiser debuted on the SmackDown brand as a duo, dropping the Imperium name, with Gunther winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship in June. Three months later, Vinci

1813-525: The summer of 2023. All three members competed in the 25-man Slim Jim SummerSlam Battle Royal , but none were successful in winning. In September, it was reported that Sheamus had been removed from television in late-August after suffering a shoulder injury, leaving Butch and Holland on their own. He would then be removed from the group's titantron in November. Butch would enter the NXT Global Heritage Invitational and would win

1862-576: The team. Wrestlers from NXT were also eligible to be drafted to either Raw or SmackDown, while any non-NXT wrestlers who were not drafted became ( kayfabe ) free agents and could sign with the brand of their choice. Unlike previous drafts, in which results took effect immediately, results of the 2021 draft did not become effective until the October 22 episode of SmackDown , the night after the Crown Jewel pay-per-view and livestreaming event. There were four rounds of draft picks during night 1 of

1911-495: The title to SmackDown, however, on the October 12 episode of NXT 2.0 , Swerve lost the championship to Carmelo Hayes , thus keeping the North American Championship on NXT before the draft results went into effect on October 22. In November, vignettes began airing to hype Veer 's post-draft appearance on Raw. His ring name was changed to Veer Mahaan. He finally debuted in April 2022, but in October, he

1960-453: The titles to Breezango ( Fandango & Tyler Breeze ) on the 26 August episode of NXT. On the 29 October episode of NXT UK , Walter retained the United Kingdom Championship in a match against Ilja Dragunov in another highly acclaimed match. On 19 February 2021, Walter became the longest-reigning NXT United Kingdom Champion, breaking Pete Dunne's record of 685 days, making Walter the longest-reigning champion in WWE history since 1988. On

2009-487: The titles. Three weeks later at Survivor Series WarGames on November 26, The Brawling Brutes along with Drew McIntyre and Kevin Owens lost to The Bloodline in a WarGames match . After regaining each other's respect at Survivor Series WarGames, Sheamus and McIntyre reformed their on-again-off-again tag team, which they jokingly referred to by the suggestive name, "The Banger Brothers", leading to McIntyre becoming an ally of

The Brawling Brutes - Misplaced Pages Continue

2058-501: The tournament by beating Joe Coffey in the finals. Butch would fail to beat Noam Dar for the NXT Heritage Cup . Butch made an alliance with former British Strong Style stablemate Tyler Bate to fight Joe Coffey's group Gallus. Holland would interfere in their match to help Butch. A six man tag team Pub Rules Match would end the feud with The Brawling Brutes beating Gallus . The Brawling Brutes would remain on NXT to be in

2107-638: Was moved to NXT. On November 4, 2021, WWE released several wrestlers due to budget cuts. Mia Yim , Hit Row's B-Fab, Nia Jax , Karrion Kross , and Keith Lee were among those who were released, without a single appearance post-draft. Among those not drafted who were released included Eva Marie and Lucha House Party ( Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado ). Several NXT wrestlers were also released, including Franky Monet , Oney Lorcan , Ember Moon , Jeet Rama , Katrina Cortez, Trey Baxter , Zayda Ramier, Jessi Kamea, Harry Smith , and Kross' real-life fiancé, Scarlett , who served as Kross' on-screen manager when Kross

2156-538: Was moved to Raw. Also in October, Zelina Vega was moved back to SmackDown to be the manager of Legado Del Fantasma ( Santos Escobar , Joaquin Wilde , and Cruz Del Toro ), who were promoted to SmackDown from NXT. After taking time off in mid-2022, Reggie returned on NXT under a new gimmick and ring name of Scrypts. Shortly after, T-Bar returned to NXT as Dijak. Upon his return from an injury in January 2023, Rick Boogs

2205-554: Was promoted from NXT to SmackDown in September, and the group's manager Paul Heyman ) to appear on both brands. This subsequently increased cross-brand rivalries, with other wrestlers, like Kevin Owens , appearing on both shows, making brand division increasingly unclear. Also in April 2022, Mustafa Ali was moved back to Raw, then in June, Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez were moved to NXT. Azeez returned to his previous ring name of Dabba-Kato after he turned on Crews at NXT Vengeance Day in February 2023. In March 2022, Pete Dunne

2254-555: Was promoted to SmackDown from NXT and repackaged under the nickname Butch. At Money in the Bank in July, Liv Morgan won the women's Money in the Bank ladder match , and later that same night, she cashed in the contract and won the SmackDown Women's Championship, subsequently transferring her to SmackDown. Later in October, Rey Mysterio was transferred to the SmackDown brand, and in turn, Happy Corbin, who returned to his Baron Corbin name,

2303-557: Was reintroduced and reunited Imperium as a trio. On April 22, 2024, Vinci was kicked out of Imperium following their loss against The New Day . From 2016 to 2019, Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser (then known as Walter and Axel Dieter Jr.) were members of a stable called Ringkampf alongside Timothy Thatcher and Christian Michael Jakobi, in which they worked on several European promotions. Ringkampf's first match occurred on 23 September 2016 when Axel Dieter Jr. teamed up with Walter and Thatcher to defeat Da Mack, Francis Kaspin and John Klinger in

2352-464: Was still in NXT and she was expected to eventually join Kross on Raw. On November 18, the remainder of Hit Row, John Morrison , Tegan Nox , Shane Thorne , Drake Maverick , and Jaxson Ryker were also released. Not long after, Jeff Hardy would be released on December 9 after being sent home from a live event tour and refusing rehab. On December 29, Toni Storm requested and was immediately granted

2401-610: Was transferred to the Raw brand. Doudrop also returned to her previous name Piper Niven, which she used in NXT UK. The Judgment Day ( Finn Bálor , Damian Priest , Dominik Mysterio , and Rhea Ripley ), a stable formed on Raw after WrestleMania 38, began appearing on SmackDown after Ripley won the 2023 women's Royal Rumble match and chose to challenge for the SmackDown Women's Championship, which she subsequently won at WrestleMania 39 . After Triple H took over creative control of WWE in July 2022, several released wrestlers who were part of

#100899