NXT UK Champion: 5 Facts you didn't know about WALTER

WALTER and Imperium invaded Monday Night RAW last night and took on Seth Rollins, The Street Profits, and Kevin Owens in an Eight-Man Tag Team Match. Ahead of their bout on RAW, WALTER was called out by Universal Champion Seth Rollins and the two were about to go head to head before Imperium involved themselves.

WALTER has remained undefeated throughout his WWE career, which includes managing to defeat the longest reigning champion of the modern era, Pete Dunne, at NXT Takeover: New York.

WALTER arrived on the scene only a few months ago and so far has taken NXT UK, NXT, and now the main roster by storm, as the WWE Universe continues to chant "We Want WALTER" whenever Imperium appear without him.

Despite being one of the most popular stars in WWE over the past few months, WALTER's history is somewhat unknown, so here are five interesting facts about the current NXT United Kingdom Champion.

#5. WALTER is the head trainer at wXw in Germany

WALTER has trained a number of up and coming stars

WALTER made his Westside Xtreme Wrestling debut back in 2007 and just three years later was able to defeat Zack Sabre Jr to become the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship for the first time. He held the title for just over three months before he was defeated by Daisuke Sekimoto. WALTER has become something of a cult hero in Germany and this is shown by the fact that he became the head trainer of the wXw Academy after becoming a three-time champion with the promotion.

WALTER has trained some of the biggest stars on the German scene over the past few years and it's reportedly a job he still manages to keep up despite his current contractual obligations with NXT UK as their main champion.

#4. He's already been awarded five stars by Dave Meltzer Twice

WALTER's match against Tyler Bate was awarded 5.25 stars

Many stars work their entire career to be part of a five-star match. Wrestling Observer Journalist Dave Meltzer often releases grades for matches following pay-per-views and only the best have been awarded five stars.

Even though WALTER has only been in WWE for 10 months, he has already been awarded five stars. Interestingly, this match didn't take place in WWE, instead, it was first PWG victory off the back of defeats from Keith Lee and Ricochet. Back in 2017, as part of All-Star Weekend 13 night two, WALTER defeated Zack Sabre Jr in a match that Dave Meltzer awarded five stars.

The two men have gone on to do battle a number of times over the past few years, at both PWG and Defiant Wrestling, but they were unable to recreate the five-star match that Meltzer obviously saw as one of WALTER's career best. In 2018, WALTER was awarded Europe MVP by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. His match with Tyler Bate at NXT Takeover: Cardiff was awarded 5.25 stars.

It's interesting to note that even though WALTER only debuted in WWE back in January, he has been wrestling for almost 14 years and has wrestled some of the biggest stars in the business.

#3. He refuses to move to America

WALTER may have debuted on Monday Night RAW last night and become one of the most popular stars in the company, but it appears that a permanent move to the main roster may be off the cards since WALTER refuses to move to America.

The 32-year-old moved to Germany early in his career since his wife was stationed there as part of her Army career. WALTER was able to make his wrestling dream come true after undertaking an 18-hour round trip just so that he could wrestle his first match in Switzerland.

After conquering Germany, WALTER went on to conquer Europe before debuting in WWE earlier this year, but the former wXw Champion still refuses to move to America as part of his job. He recently reiterated this in an interview with Talk Sport.

"I would go on the main roster at some point but I wouldn’t move to America. Moving to America is not for me. American lifestyle is not for me. No, I couldn’t imagine that. When it comes to that, I stay where I am.

But, I am able to get on an airplane!"

#2. He was in a stable with Alexander Wolfe and Marcel Barthel in 2016

Three members of Imperium worked together before they were aligned on NXT UK

Imperium has become one of the most dominant stables in WWE over the past few months, a stable that many fans believe will play a huge part at Survivor Series and will one day go up against Undisputed Era.

Imperium consists of Alexander Wolfe, Marcel Barthel, and Fabian Aichner, but even though it was a strange move for Wolfe to leave Sanity and head to NXT UK to become part of Imperium, there could be an interesting reason behind it.

Back in 2016, WALTER joined one of Europe's most dominant stables, known as Ringkampf, where he first joined forces with Wolfe and Barcel. The trio were joined by Timothy Thatcher and became a dominant stable in wXw for a number of years before WALTER left to break onto the wrestling scene in places like Evolve, Defiant, and Pro Wrestling Guerilla in 2017.

Imperium is so gelled as a unit because three of the members have worked together on a number of occasions. It appears that the only newcomer to the group is Fabian Aichner.

#1. He's had run-ins with a number of WWE stars throughout his career

WALTER has faced a number of interesting opponents in the past

WALTER made his WWE debut earlier this year and has since gone on to become one of the most dominant forces in the company, but even though he has proven his worth on NXT WALTER has also proved what he can do against some of the company's biggest stars before he was even signed.

WALTER won his third wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship by defeating current RAW superstar Aleister Black, who was known as Tommy End earlier in his career. WALTER appeared for Progress a number of times throughout his career, but one of his first appearances was as part of Super Strong Style 6 where he was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Chris Hero, who is now known in WWE as Kassius Ohno.

During his time at Pro Wrestling Guerilla throughout 2017 and 2018, WALTER crossed paths with Keith Lee when he was eliminated from the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles by the NXT Star. The NXT UK Champion later came across Ricochet, who defeated him at All-Star Weekend, Night One. In January last year, WALTER and Timothy Thatcher challenged for the PWG Tag Team Championships, but lost the match to The Chosen Bros, Matt Riddle, and Jeff Cobb.