When Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser walked out to the ring at Clash at the Castle with Giovanni Vinci by their side, it meant one thing and one thing only: Imperium had officially arrived in the WWE Universe.

Now granted, the name Imperium had been mentioned on multiple occasions during Gunther and Kaiser's run on SmackDown, but after being a four-person faction in NXT UK and a three-man front in NXT USA, the prospects of calling Gunther and Kaiser by the name or their occasional tag team belt just didn't have the same ring to it. When Gunther and Kaiser wrestled their lone match on SmackDown as a team back in May, they were announced under their WWE ring names, and for fans who aren't big-time NXT stans, that's how they knew them.

Vinci's return, even without his NXT moniker, Fabian Aichner, competed the trio, added symmetry to Gunther's entrance walk to the ring, and, most importantly of all, created the potential for all sorts of interesting interactions with The Brawling Brutes trio of Sheamus, Ridge Holland, and Butch.

Goodness, that is just beyond cool, especially with the black entrance gear replacing Gunther and Kaiser's formerly red gear.

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
Chad Gable with a text bubble reading "I trained you!" next to Sami Zayn with the RAW logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Cody Rhodes in a WWE ring next to the blacked-out silhouettes of Roman Reigns, Gunther, and Logan Paul with the WWE logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Sami Zayn holding the Intercontinental Championship with the WrestleMania 40 logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Fighting the Brutes in a 20-plus minute affair, Vinci and Kaiser showcased the tag team intuition they formed for years in WWE's developmental system, while Gunther continued his streak of domination with chops that launched Butch back into his Pete Dunn days, and broke through Sheamus' notoriously pale skin.

WWE Universe, be on notice: Gunther and Imperium aren't going away.