The NXT 2.0 era has already seen more crossovers between Raw and SmackDown in its first few months than in the entirety of the Black and Gold era, but now two NXT stars could end up on the Blue Brand permanently rather soon. Fightful Select is reporting that there have been internal discussions regarding bringing NXT’s Imperium to the main roster, and SmackDown is the most heavily talked about destination for Gunther and Marcel Barthel. As for the group’s third member, Fabian Aichner is not included in those plans according to the report, which explains why he walked off after Imperium lost to The Creed Brothers in their opening match. No reason was given for why Aichner isn’t being brought up with them or what the plans for him moving forward are.
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Perhaps it is simply to keep them as a two-person Tag Team that can jump into the mix with SmackDown’s other teams as opposed to another faction, but that’s just conjecture. We’ll have to wait and see what happens with both Aichner and the new trimmed-down Imperium in the weeks ahead.
The report also goes on to say that from the point Gunther moved to the United States the plan was always to bring him to Raw or SmackDown, though the change from three to two does seem to have been something recent, as during an interview over WrestleMania weekend the three Imperium members talked about the possibility of heading to the main roster.
Gunther also recently put Bron Breakker over on NXT, another sign that he could be headed to SmackDown sooner or later. Plus, SmackDown could use another powerhouse figure in the mix to keep things interesting in the world of Roman Reigns. There are a multitude of stars he can jump in the ring with that could produce great matches, including Ricochet, Sami Zayn, New Day, The Usos, Mansoor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Drew McIntyre, and of course, Reigns. We’ll have to wait and see how that all shakes out, but hopefully, we’ll get more details soon.
Do you want to see Imperium on SmackDown? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
