WWE appears to be following in the footsteps of New Japan, AEW, and other wrestling companies by expanding its number of factions and the number of wrestlers within each one.
As of this writing, the company’s active stables include The Judgment Day, the Latino World Order, The Brawling Brutes, The O.C., Damage CTRL, The Schism, and Imperium. Whenever a stable forms, questions arise on whether said stable will add new members over time or remove existing ones.
However, those questions don’t seem to apply to Imperium, at least not at this time.
As of June 17, 2023, Imperium has only three members: Ludwig Kaiser, Giovanni Vinci, and Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER (formerly known as WALTER). The group used to have a fourth member in Alexander Wolfe, but he was kicked out of the group two years ago after losing a big match in NXT.
And considering how well his stable has been doing, GUNTHER sees no reason to add any new members anytime soon
GUNTHER wants Imperium to remain a three-man unit in WWE
GUNTHER appeared on Ten Count and spoke with Steve Fall about the possibility of Imperium expanding to include new members and noted that he doesn’t see the need for expansion since the group is doing just fine as a trio.
“No, I think it’s perfect how it is. I’m a big believer in ‘never change a running system.’ I think too much in and out can water a group down a little bit. We’re all together for a reason, nothing’s random.
We are all tightly connected in our private lives too, especially with Kaiser. Our careers went the same way since we started.
There’s a history of that group a long time before WWE, so it’s something that was just authentically there. As of right now, I feel like it’s good how it is.”
As of this writing, GUNTHER’s reign as Intercontinental Champion has reached 372 days. He has also expressed interest in facing Brock Lesnar one-on-one with a goal of challenging the Beast at Money In The Bank in July.
h/t Fightful for the transcription