Barthel previously wrestled under the ring nameAxel Dieter Jr. in Germany, most notably forWestside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), where he became atwo-timeWorld Tag Team Champion andone-timeUnified World Wrestling Champion. He also wrestled in the UK forProgress Wrestling. He signed with WWE in 2017 and was assigned toNXT under his real name,Marcel Barthel, joining theImperium stable where he won theNXT Tag Team Championshiptwice withFabian Aichner. Imperium was moved to the main roster onSmackDown in 2022 where Barthel was renamed asLudwig Kaiser, and then moved to Raw in 2023. From early 2025,Chad Gable had originally portrayed El Grande Americano, but due to injury, Barthel assumed the role on June 30, 2025. As Americano, Barthel is a former one-timeWWE Speed Champion, a reign he had inherited when he took over the role from Gable.
Barthel was trained by his father Axel Dieter, Christian Eckstei, and Karsten Kretschmer.[9] He debuted under thering name Axel Dieter Jr. at NFC New Years Fight Night II on 1 March 2008, wrestlingDa Mack to a time limit draw.[1] He made his debut forWestside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) in January 2009, losing to Dan Marshall.[10] He did not have his next match in wXw until July 2012, when he and Da Mack defeatedWalter and Michael Isotov.[11] Dieter and Da Mack would go on to form a regular team, dubbing themselves Hot & Spicy. On 16 November 2013, they defeated The AUTsiders (Walter andRobert Dreissker) to win thewXw World Tag Team Championship.[12] Dieter and Da Mack made seven successful defences of the championship, defeating the likes of The Sumerian Death Squad (Tommy End andMichael Dante), Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero andAlex Koslov), andKazuki Hashimoto andRyuichi Kawakami. They lost the championships toMatt Striker andTrent? on 15 March 2014, but won them back in a rematch the following day.[13] On 6 April, Dieter received his first opportunity at thewXw Shotgun Championship, losing toAxel Tischer.[14] After over a combined year as wXw World Tag Team Champions, Dieter and Da Mack were defeated by French Flavour (Lucas Di Leo and Peter Fischer) on 18 October, bringing their reign to an end.[15]
On 22 November 2014, Dieter unsuccessfully challenged Walter for thewXw Unified World Wrestling Championship.[16] In February 2015, he took part in the Four Nations Cup, defeatingTimothy Thatcher in the final to win the tournament.[17] In March, Dieter took part in the16 Carat Gold Tournament, defeatingZack Sabre Jr. in the semi-final to advance to the final, where he lost to Tommy End.[18] In October, after a short break, Hot & Spicy teamed together once again and made it to the semi-finals of the 2015 World Tag Team Tournament before losing toreDRagon (Kyle O'Reilly andBobby Fish).[19] In March 2016, Dieter once again took part in the 16 Carat Gold Tournament, defeatingDrew Galloway in the semi-final to advance to the final, where he lost to Sabre, the man he defeated to advance to the final in the previous year's tournament.[20] On 2 September, Dieter and Da Mack faced off against each other, with Da Mack coming out on top and retaining his wXw Shotgun Championship.[21] In late 2016, Dieter joinedRingkampf, and on 10 December, he defeatedMarty Scurll to win the wXw Unified World Wrestling Title.[22] Dieter held the championship until March 2017, when he was defeated byJurn Simmons.[23] In April, Dieter announced that he would be leaving wXw to pursue further opportunities outside of Germany. On 30 April, wXw held a farewell show for him, titledDie Matte Ist Heilig: Farewell to Axel Dieter Junior. In his final match as a full-time member of wXw, he teamed with Ringkampf stablemate Walter to defeat his long-time partner Da Mack and his long-time rival Simmons.[24]
Due to wXw's working relationship withWWE, Barthel was able to make occasional appearances for the promotion. At the 17th Anniversary Show, in an untelevised segment, Barthel and Alexander Wolfe saved Walter and Thatcher after they were ambushed by members of the Rise stable.[25] On 30 October 2018, it was confirmed that Barthel, under the Axel Dieter Jr. name, would return to wXw as a part of their 18th Anniversary Show on 22 December.[26] At the event, he teamed with Walter and Thatcher to defeatBritish Strong Style (Pete Dunne,Trent Seven andTyler Bate).[27] In March 2019, he participated in the 16 Carat Gold Tournament, defeatingMarius Al-Ani in the first round,[28] before being eliminated byLucky Kid in the quarter final.[29] On the third night, he reunited with Da Mack, where they defeated Jay FK (Jay Skillet and Francis Kaspin).[30]
On 23 November 2024, at Broken Rykes, Barthel (as Ludwig Kaiser) returned to wXw for the first time since 2019.[31]
Progress Wrestling (2017–2018)
Representing wXw and Ringkampf, Dieter made his debut forProgress Wrestling in the UK on 15 January 2017, alongsideWalter, defeating The London Riots (James Davis and Rob Lynch).[32] They returned to the promotion on 29 January, losing to The South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper andTravis Banks).[33] They once again returned on 19 March, defeating The Hunter Brothers (Jim and Lee Hunter).[34] In his first singles match, Dieter lost toMark Haskins.[35] On 23 April, Dieter, Walter, andTimothy Thatcher unsuccessfully challengedBritish Strong Style (Pete Dunne,Trent Seven, andTyler Bate) in a six-man tag team match for all of British Strong Style's championships.[36]
On 30 December 2018, Barthel made a surprise appearance at Progress' Unboxing event, where he was defeated byEddie Dennis.[37]
On 30 June 2017, Barthel signed withWWE and was assigned to WWE'sdevelopmental territoryNXT.[38] He made multiple appearances at the NXTlive events[39] before making his television debut under his real name on 8 August 2018 episode ofNXT, where he lost toKeith Lee.[40] Barthel then formed a tag team withFabian Aichner, with whom he would compete on both the NXT andNXT UK brands.
On the April 8 episode ofSmackDown, Barthel debuted under the new ring name Ludwig Kaiser, accompanying his Imperium stablemate Walter (now called Gunther) in a squash match against Joe Alonzo.[48] His new surname came from Gustl Kaiser, a wrestling promoter during the time when his father was active as a professional wrestler.[49] On the May 27 episode ofSmackDown, Kaiser had his first match on the main roster, teaming with Gunther to defeatDrew Gulak andIntercontinental ChampionRicochet.[50] A feud withThe Brawling Brutes ensued for several months, which also included the return of Aichner (now called Giovanni Vinci) to Imperium and resulted in two Intercontinental Champion matches between Gunther andSheamus.[51][52][53] As part of the2023 WWE Draft, Kaiser and his Imperium stablemates Gunther and Vinci were drafted to theRaw brand.[54] On 23 April 2024 episode ofRaw, Kaiser attacked Vinci and kicked him out of Imperium after they lost toThe New Day.[55][56]
On 30 August episode ofSmackDown inBerlin, Kaiser answeredLA Knight's open challenge for theUnited States Championship, but lost.[57] AtSurvivor Series on 30 November, he lost atriple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship against Sheamus and Intercontinental ChampionBron Breakker.[58] On 1 February 2025, atRoyal Rumble, Kaiser entered theeponymous match at #13, but was eliminated byPenta in six seconds.[59] On 24 February 2025 episode ofRaw, Kaiser won a triple threat match against Penta andPete Dunne.[60] On the 17 March episode ofRaw, Kaiser lost a no holds barred match against Penta.[61] After this match, Kaiser did not appear onRaw for over three months and Imperium quietly disbanded.[62]
On 30 June episode ofRaw, Kaiser began portraying themaskedluchadorEl Grande Americano afterChad Gable, the first person to portray the character, sustained a legitimate injury.[63][64] As a result, Kaiser also inherited Americano'sSpeed Championship from Gable, a title he held until the 11 November episode ofNXT where he lost it toJasper Troy—this ended the Americano character's reign at 190 days (188 as recognized by WWE), the official longest reign for the title, while for Kaiser solely, this ended his portion of the reign at 134 days.[65] As Americano, he also appeared on WWE's Mexicansister promotionLucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) at Alianzas, where he defeatedOctagón Jr. Later in the show, Americano, Dragon Lee, andDominik Mysterio answeredAAA Mega ChampionEl Hijo del Vikingo's open challenge, leading to a four-way match for the title being scheduled forTriplemanía XXXIII on 16 August,[66][67] where Vikingo retained the title.[68] He also began a stable with other two masked wrestlers,Rayo Americano andBravo Americano, referred to as the Los Americanos.[69][70][71]
^AsEl Grande Americano. The title was originally won byChad Gable, who originally portrayed Americano, with Barthel taking over the role and reign on June 30, 2025, due to Gable's injury.
_(cropped).jpg)
,Cagematch