Ludwig Kaiser, born Marcel Barthel on July 8, 1990, in Pinneberg, Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany, has carved a significant path in professional wrestling. Currently 35 years old, he performs on WWE's Raw brand under the ring name Ludwig Kaiser and also portrays the masked luchador El Grande Americano, the second wrestler to portray the character after Chad Gable. As El Grande Americano, he is the current WWE Speed Champion in his first reign. Before joining WWE, he established himself as Axel Dieter Jr., primarily in the German wrestling scene. This article explores Kaiser's journey, highlighting his accomplishments, influences, and evolution as a performer.
Early Career and Influences
Kaiser's foray into professional wrestling began under the tutelage of his father, Axel Dieter, an influential German pro wrestler who competed against legends like Bret Hart and The Dynamite Kid. Ludwig Kaiser also received training from Christian Eckstei and Karsten Kretschmer. Kaiser has stated that his father was "100% down to the 'The mat is sacred' and all that kind of stuff." Paying tribute to his father, he adopted the name Axel Dieter Jr. for much of his pre-WWE career.
He wrestled his first match on March 1, 2008, at NFC New Years Fight Night II, wrestling Da Mack to a time limit draw.
Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw)
Kaiser made his debut for Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) in January 2009, losing to Dan Marshall. It wasn't until July 2012 that he had his next match in wXw, when he and Da Mack defeated Walter and Michael Isotov.
Hot & Spicy Tag Team
Dieter and Da Mack would go on to form a regular team, dubbing themselves Hot And Spicy. On November 16, 2013, they defeated The AUTsiders (Walter and Robert Dreissker) to win the wXw World Tag Team Championship. Dieter and Da Mack made seven successful defences of the championship, defeating the likes of The Sumerian Death Squad (Tommy End and Michael Dante), Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov), and Kazuki Hashimoto and Ryuichi Kawakami. They lost the championships to Matt Striker and Trent? On March 15, 2014, but won the championships back in a rematch one day later. After over a combined year as wXw World Tag Team Champions, Dieter and Da Mack were defeated by French Flavour (Lucas Di Leo & Peter Fischer) on 18 October 2014, bringing their reign to an end. Their longest reign came while he and Da Mack were the EWP (European Wrestling Promotion) Tag Team Champions, maintaining a firm grasp on the belts for a record 1,309 days. They toppled Big Van Walter and Michael Kovac in September 2013, before they were felled in April 2017 at the hands of Chris Colen and Matt Cross.
Read also: Good Design According to Dieter Rams
Singles Competition
On April 6, 2014, Dieter received his first opportunity at the wXw Shotgun Championship, losing to Axel Tischer. On November 22, 2014, Dieter unsuccessfully challenged Walter for the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship. In February 2015, he took part in the Four Nations Cup, defeating Timothy Thatcher in the final to win the tournament. In March, Dieter took part in the 16 Carat Gold Tournament, defeating Zack Sabre Jr. in the semi-final to advance to the final, where he lost to Tommy End. In October, after a short break, Hot & Spicy teamed together once again and made it to the semi-finals of the 2015 World Tag Team Tournament before losing to reDRagon (Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish). In March 2016, Dieter once again took part in the 16 Carat Gold Tournament, defeating Drew Galloway in the semi-final to advance to the final, where he lost to Sabre, the man he defeated to advance to the final in the previous year's tournament. On September 2, Dieter and Da Mack faced off against each other, with Da Mack coming out on top and retaining his wXw Shotgun Championship. In late 2016, Dieter joined Ringkampf, and on December 10, he defeated Marty Scurll to win the wXw Unified World Wrestling Title. Dieter held the championship until March 2017, when he was defeated by Jurn Simmons. In April, Dieter announced that he would be leaving wXw to pursue further opportunities outside of Germany. On April 30, wXw held a farewell show for him, titled Die Matte Ist Heilig: Farewell to Axel Dieter Junior.
Ringkampf Stable
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 a tag team match at the wXw Shotgun Live Tour in Ludwigshafen. Ringkampf also wrestled for Progress Wrestling.
Progress Wrestling
Representing wXw and Ringkampf, Dieter made his debut for Progress Wrestling in the United Kingdom on January 15, 2017, alongside Walter, defeating The London Riots (James Davis and Rob Lynch). They returned to the promotion on January 29, 2017, losing to The South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper & Travis Banks). They once again returned on 19 March, defeating The Hunter Brothers (Jim & Lee Hunter). In his first singles match, Dieter lost to Mark Haskins.
Move to WWE
In early 2017, after Dieter suddenly left wXw, it was rumored that he had signed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In 2017, Barthel signed with WWE under his real name and was assigned to WWE's developmental territory NXT that June, where he lost to Roderick Strong at a live event.
NXT
On the 8 August 2018 episode of NXT, he made his television debut in a losing effort against Keith Lee. In December, he formed a tag team with Fabian Aichner, with whom he would compete on both the NXT and NXT UK brands.
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Imperium
Previously working for several European promotions, including together as part of the stable Ringkampf, Gunther and Kaiser (then known respectively as Walter and Marcel Barthel) signed with WWE in 2019. They debuted on the NXT UK brand and were paired with Italian wrestler Giovanni Vinci (then known as Fabian Aichner) and German wrestler Alexander Wolfe; the stable started to use the name Imperium and importing their Ringkampf motto of Die Matte ist heilig (English: "the mat is sacred").
On 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 the 26 June episode of NXT UK, Walter retained his title against Travis Banks. On 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 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 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 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.
SmackDown Debut as Ludwig Kaiser
On the April 8 episode of SmackDown, Barthel debuted under the new ring name Ludwig Kaiser, accompanying his Imperium stablemate Walter (now called Gunther) in a squash match against Joe Alonzo. His new surname came from Gustl Kaiser, an important wrestling promoter during the time when his father was active as a professional wrestler. "Marcel has Gustl Kaiser in mind, a legendary and very influential German promoter from the time when his father, Axel Dieter, was still a professional wrestler. Marcel was given a few names to choose from, and he chose that one because it sounds good and it embodies history. On the May 27 episode of SmackDown, Kaiser had his first match on the main roster, teaming with Gunther to defeat Drew Gulak and Intercontinental Champion Ricochet. 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 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 the 2023 WWE Draft, Imperium were drafted to the Raw brand.
Singles competition in WWE
On the August 30 episode of SmackDown in Berlin, Kaiser answered LA Knight's open challenge for the United States Championship, but lost. At Survivor Series on November 30, he lost a triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship against Sheamus and Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker. At the Royal Rumble on 1 February 2025, Kaiser entered 13th the eponymous match but was eliminated by Penta in six seconds.
Read also: Espionage and betrayal: The Dieter Gerhardt case.
El Grande Americano
On the 30 June episiode of Raw, Kaiser began portraying the character of El Grande Americano after Chad Gable, the first person to portray the character, sustained a legitimate injury. The following week on Raw, Kaiser wrestled his first match as Americano, defeating Dragon Lee. On July 25, Kaiser, as Americano, made his debut for WWE's sister promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) at Alianzas, where he defeated Octagón Jr.
Wrestling Style and Persona
Ludwig Kaiser stands at six feet three inches and weighs 209 pounds, blending speed and power in his performances. He has utilized four primary finishers throughout his career, with his two go-to moves on WWE's main roster being a swinging DDT and a running Enzuigiri. Previously, he also used a Regal Plex dubbed the Landungsbrucken, and a Lotus Lock which he named in honor of his father.
Personal Life
For how brutal and vicious the land of WWE can be, the company is also a Love Island villa in the making, with numerous couples getting together after meeting between the ropes. This is exactly how Ludwig Kaiser met his current girlfriend, Tiffany Stratton, with the pair having been an item since 2022.
Accomplishments
European Wrestling Promotion (EWP)
- EWP Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Da Mack
Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw)
- wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship (1 time)
- wXw World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Da Mack
- Four Nations Cup (2015)
WWE
- WWE Speed Championship (1 time, current) as El Grande Americano
Championships and Accomplishments
Throughout his career, Ludwig Kaiser has achieved considerable success, both as a singles competitor and in tag teams. His accolades include:
Kaiser has won six tag team titles throughout his career, four with Da Mack as Hot And Spicy, and two with Fabian Aichner as Imperium. Kaiser is an accomplished singles wrestler in his own right - a 91-day reign with wXw's Unified World Wrestling Championship confirms as such.
Star Ratings
The star ratings handed out by Dave Meltzer have long held a strong fist in separating the great wrestling matches from the good ones, and while he hasn't always been fair to WWE, that stance has changed in recent years. Ludwig Kaiser, however, hasn't quite reached that upper echelon. While he does have twelve matches rated four stars or higher, he has gone without a luxurious fifth star in his entire career. The closest he came to Dave Meltzer's Christmas card list was at Extreme Rules 2022 and NXT WarGames 2021, respectively, as he wrestled matches that were awarded four and a half stars each.