Every few months, the question arises as to if and when NXT United Kingdom Champion might possibly move to the United States, with one stumbling block always following – the notion that WALTER doesn’t want to.
Speaking with Inside The Ropes‘ Lead Writer Gary Cassidy just two days after news of his WWE exit broke, Axel Tischer – formerly Alexander Wolfe – has opened up about WALTER’s thoughts on a move to the USA, and whether he felt that the Imperium leader’s hesitance held back the faction in any way.
“It’s not a mystery that he [WALTER] doesn’t want to live in America and I understand this. I had some great six years here, I had the change of culture because European and especially German culture is very different than the American culture. I never had a problem. But he, since the first day, said, ‘I would never want to live here.’
Tischer, who himself is from Germany and plans to move back there, spoke of why the Austrian WALTER wants to live in his adopted homeland.
“I think he had some tours with some wXw shows over here and sometimes wrestled for some other promotions at the same time. And he kind of didn’t like that. He’s very keen on staying in Germany where everything is fine and he has his place where he can just go back to privacy. He’s a very private guy. He’s not, like, an inner city living guy. He lives outside in the country. Yeah, he probably will not move to the States soon, but never say never. I don’t know.”
The former NXT Superstar added that he actually spoke with WALTER about moving back to Germany himself just last year with the pair weighing up the pros and cons.
“I spoke with him about, like, ‘Hey, I want to move back to Germany’ because, you know, we just spent some time there in 2020 and we figured out… We compared – you have life in the States, which is OK, but you have the good side and bad side, and it was more balanced in Germany. So I talked with him, he said, ‘Yeah, told you!'”
Tischer added that Ilja Dragunov is of much the same persuasion.
“It’s the same with Ilja. He’s the same. He does not want to move over to the States at all and I respect that. For me, there was no choice back in the day. Like, 2015 there was nothing. Some English promotions, wXw was running riot in Germany but I took it by chance that I had to move. I didn’t mind it because I was open for an adventure. Nowadays, if you have a chance to do NXT UK, for example or even like you want to do something over there… I don’t know.”
Speaking to WALTER’s general character and aura, Tischer called him one of if not the best in the company – and has earned the right to make his own decision.
“But the good thing with WALTER is he’s such a massive presence and he’s such a superstar and, in my opinion, one of the best if not the best in this company right now who has this persona and everything. Even without doing as much as some people do and they don’t even get 50% of what he gets. So good for him that he is the decision maker on that.”
Our full interview with Axel Tischer, formerly known as Alexander Wolfe, is available to read here – where we discussed his WWE departure, friendship with Nikki Cross, and WALTER’s insistence not to move to the United States, among other things.
Meanwhile, you can follow Axel Tischer on Twitter here and book a Cameo from him here. Thanks to Axel for taking the time!