WWE Star is "Literally Like a Brother" to Gunther

Gunther's villainous WWE character has performed as a singles competitor for the majority of his six-and-a-half years with the company. In a recent podcast episode, The Ring General discussed his close real-life friendship with Ludwig Kaiser.

Kaiser became a member of the Imperium faction alongside Alexander Wolfe, Giovanni Vinci, and Gunther in 2019. Wolfe and Vinci left the stable in 2021 and 2024, respectively, before Gunther and Kaiser's on-screen partnership quietly ended.

On Michelle McCool and The Undertaker's Six Feet Under podcast, Gunther said he and Kaiser are more like siblings than friends:

"I would say he's literally like a brother. He's my guy when it comes to that [wrestling training]. Sometimes the other things that come with brotherhood, like conflict and confront each other about stuff." [38:33 – 38:46]

Kaiser broke out as a singles star in 2024 following Vinci's exit from Imperium. In recent weeks, he has taken over from the injured Chad Gable as the masked El Grande Americano persona.

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Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser met a decade before joining WWE

The long-time friends made a name for themselves in several companies outside of WWE, including Progress and wXw.

Although they were born in different countries, Gunther frequently traveled with Ludwig Kaiser to shows around Europe:

"A long time now, 2008, I think. He was in Germany. I was in Austria at that time. I moved to Germany later, then we were just two hours apart, so we'd always carpool, so most of the weekends we were traveling together." [37:40 – 38:01]

In the same episode, the two-time World Heavyweight Champion revealed which WWE Hall of Famers inspired him to wrestle. He also disclosed details about a ruthless comment he made to a fan at a meet-and-greet session.

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