GUNTHER and the rest of Imperium, Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci, are in the middle of a dominant run on SmackDown. The team, which officially expanded back into a trio at WWE's Clash at the Castle, have been feuding in a rather one-sided way with Sheamus and his Brawling Brutes, and yet, through it all, “The Celtic Warrior” has found it in himself to continue to fight to stand in opposition across from SmackDown‘s most imposing force, likely because he has eyes for the Intercontontnetial Championship, the final strap he needs to complete his WWE collection.

Though he lost to GUNTHER at Clash at the Castle, Sheamus' resilience kept him going back to the ring for fights with the “Ring General,” and his cronies, and this faith has been rewarded by Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Adam Pearce, and company with not only a match at Extreme Rules between the two factions but also a championship match for the IC Title on the season premiere of SmackDown the night before. Will Sheamus enter the ring in Philadelphia with a new belt around his waist? Or will Imperium send the Brutes to the City of Brotherly Love as losers once more?

Based on Imperium's conversation with Meghan Morant on the SmackDown LowDown, it could certainly appear Gunther and company would like nothing more than to accomplish the latter.

Imperium wants to make the Brawling Brutes “disappear” from WWE.

Speaking with Morant on the SmackDown LowDown after the most recent episode of SmackDown, GUNTHER, Kaiser, and Vinci made it clear what they want to accomplish on the season premiere of the Friday Night show and then at Extreme Rules the day after.

“Shamus got what he deserved tonight,” GUNTHER declared. “He did exactly what a low-class man like him would do. He brings an object, a weapon, into a fight, into a sport of men. So next week, I’m going to do exactly the same as I did in Cardiff, I’m going to humiliate, I’m going to expose Sheamus for the final time. And the real disgrace is what happens the day after. We train our whole lives to stand here proudly representing our sport, and we get forced into a stipulation that has nothing to do with this precious sport.”

That’s exactly right,” Vicci added. “That match next week is 100 percent a disgrace, but if that’s what we have to do to show The Brawling Brutes once and for all what Imperium stands for, then that’s what we’ll do. That’s what we’ll do.

Kaiser, Vinci’s former NXT tag team partner, then interjected into the conversation.

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“That is exactly what we are going to do,” Kaiser echoed. “First, the Ring General GUNTHER is going to defend his WWE Intercontinental Championship successfully against Sheamus, and only one day later, at Extreme Rules, we are going to make each and every one of the Brawling Brutes disappear. And do you know what happens after that? After that we are going to keep walking towards our goal, towards our mission, that is to restore the honor of our beloved sport. Because we are Imperium and to us, the mat, is sacred.”

Will the Brawlng Brutes be able to pull out a pair of wins against GUNTHER and Imperium, two of the most dominant acts of the black and gold era of NXT and the now-defunct NXT UK? Or will GUNTHER take care of business against Sheamus on Friday night and then beat down the rest of the faction, Butch and Ridge Holland, in a Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook match? Either way, it's sure to be fascinating.