Ludwig Kaiser

Marcel Barthel (born 8 July 1990) is a German professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Ludwig Kaiser and is a member of Imperium alongside Gunther. He previously wrestled under the ring name Axel Dieter Jr. in Germany, most notably for Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), where he became a two-time World Tag Team Champion and one-time Unified World Wrestling Champion. He also wrestled in the UK for Progress Wrestling.

Early life

Barthel was born in Pinneberg on 8 July 1990. He is a second-generation professional wrestler; his father, Axel Dieter (1933–2015), was later at ringside for his championship win in Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) when he became one half of the wXw World Tag Team Champions. His father was also a child soldier during World War II, fighting first for Nazi Germany before defecting to France, all before he was 12 years old. He later joined the French Foreign Legion.

Professional wrestling career

Independent circuit and wXw (2008, 2012–2019, 2024)

Barthel was trained by his father Axel Dieter, Christian Eckstei, and Karsten Kretschmer. He debuted under the ring name Axel Dieter Jr. at NFC New Years Fight Night II on 1 March 2008, wrestling Da Mack to a time limit draw. He made his debut for Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) in January 2009, losing to Dan Marshall. He did not have his next match in wXw until July 2012, when he and Da Mack defeated Walter and Michael Isotov. Dieter and Da Mack would go on to form a regular team, dubbing themselves Hot & Spicy. On 16 November 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 15 March 2014, but won them back in a rematch the following day. On 6 April, Dieter received his first opportunity at the wXw Shotgun Championship, losing to Axel Tischer. After over a combined year as wXw World Tag Team Champions, Dieter and Da Mack were defeated by French Flavour (Lucas Di Leo and Peter Fischer) on 18 October, bringing their reign to an end.

On 22 November 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 2 September, 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 10 December, 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 30 April, wXw held a farewell show for him, titled ''Die Matte Ist Heilig: Farewell to Axel Dieter Junior''. In his final match as a full-time member of wXw, he teamed with Ringkampf stablemate Walter to defeat his long-time partner Da Mack and his long-time rival Simmons.

Due to wXw's working relationship with WWE, Barthel was able to make occasional appearances for the promotion. At the 17th Anniversary Show, in an untelevised segment, Barthel and Alexander Wolfe saved Walter and Thatcher after they were ambushed by members of the Rise stable. On 30 October 2018, it was confirmed that Barthel, under the Axel Dieter Jr. name, would return to wXw as a part of their 18th Anniversary Show on 22 December. At the event, he teamed with Walter and Thatcher to defeat British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Trent Seven and Tyler Bate). In March 2019, he participated in the 16 Carat Gold Tournament, defeating Marius Al-Ani in the first round, before being eliminated by Lucky Kid in the quarter final. On the third night, he reunited with Da Mack, where they defeated Jay FK ( Jay Skillet and Francis Kaspin).

On 23 November 2024, at Broken Rykes, Barthel (as Ludwig Kaiser) returned to wXw for the first time since 2019.

Progress Wrestling (2017–2018)

Representing wXw and Ringkampf, Dieter made his debut for Progress Wrestling in the UK on 15 January 2017, alongside Walter, defeating The London Riots (James Davis and Rob Lynch). They returned to the promotion on 29 January, losing to The South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper and Travis Banks). They once again returned on 19 March, defeating The Hunter Brothers (Jim and Lee Hunter). In his first singles match, Dieter lost to Mark Haskins. On 23 April, Dieter, Walter, and Timothy Thatcher unsuccessfully challenged British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Trent Seven, and Tyler Bate) in a six-man tag team match for all of British Strong Style's championships.

On 30 December 2018, Barthel made a surprise appearance at Progress' Unboxing event, where he was defeated by Eddie Dennis.

WWE (2017–present)

NXT and NXT UK (2017–2022)

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. 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. They would later align themselves with Walter and Alexander Wolfe, forming the stable Imperium. On the 13 May 2020 episode of ''NXT'', Barthel and Aichner would defeat Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher (replacing Riddle's original partner Pete Dunne) to win the NXT Tag Team Championship. After successful title defenses against teams like Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch and The Undisputed Era, Imperium would lose the titles on the 26 August episode of ''NXT'' to Tyler Breeze and Fandango, ending their reign at 105 days. On the 26 October special episode of NXT: Halloween Havoc, Barthel and Aichner defeated MSK in a lumberjack tag team match to win the NXT Tag Team Championship for the second time. On 5 December at NXT WarGames, they successfully defended the titles against Kyle O'Reilly and Von Wagner. On 2 April 2022 at NXT Stand & Deliver, they lost the titles back to MSK in a triple threat tag team match also involving the Creed Brothers, ending their reign at 158 days. On the April 5 episode of ''NXT'', Barthel and Aichner faced the Creed Brothers in a losing effort, with Aichner walking out of their match.

Main roster (2022–present)

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. 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. A feud with the Brawling Brutes ensued for several months, which also included the return of Aichner (now called Giovanni Vinci) to Imperium and resulted in two Intercontinental Champion matches between Gunther and Sheamus. As part of the 2023 WWE Draft, Kaiser and his Imperium stablemates Gunther and Vinci were drafted to the Raw brand. On the 23 April 2024 episode of ''Raw'', Kaiser attacked Vinci and kicked him out of Imperium after he and Vinci lost to The New Day. 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, he entered 13th the eponymous match but was eliminated by Penta in six seconds.

On May 13 episode of Raw, his backstage interview was cut short as Jey Uso was attacked by Bron Breakker, who carried the assault under Seth Rollins' instructions.

Other media

Barthel made his video game debut as Ludwig Kaiser in ''WWE SuperCard'', and is a playable character in ''WWE 2K22'', '' WWE 2K23'', ''WWE 2K24'', and ''WWE 2K25''.

Personal life

Barthel has been in a relationship with American professional wrestler Tiffany Stratton since 2022.

Championships and accomplishments

*Catch Wrestling Norddeutschland
**Tag Team Tournament (2009) – with Da Mack
*European Wrestling Promotion
**EWP Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Da Mack
*Great Bear Promotions
**Great Bear Grand Championship (1 time)
*German Stampede Wrestling
**GSW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Da Mack
*Nordic Championship Wrestling
**NFC First Fighter Championship (1 time)
**International NCW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
**First Fighter Tournament (2010)
*Pro Wrestling Fighters
**PWF North-European Championship (1 time)
*''Pro Wrestling Illustrated''
**Ranked No. 240 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the ''PWI 500'' in 2020
*Westside Xtreme Wrestling
**wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship (1 time)
**wXw World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Da Mack
** Mitteldeutschland Cup (2014)
** Four Nations Cup (2015)
*WWE
**NXT Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Fabian Aichner

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaiser, Ludwig
1990 births
Living people
German male professional wrestlers
People from Pinneberg
NXT Tag Team Champions
WXw Unified World Wrestling Champions
WXw World Tag Team Champions
21st-century male professional wrestlers