Fabian Aichner (born 21 July 1990) is an Italianprofessional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure inWWE, where he performed under thering nameGiovanni Vinci.
On 9 December 2011, Aichner made his debut under thering nameAdrian Severe at aNew European Championship Wrestling (NEW) event.[1] He competed in the final of the NEW World Heavyweight Championship tournament in March 2012, but did not win. On 2 February 2013, he won the NEW World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Vicious Impact Power, but lost it back to Power on 2 November.[5] In 2014, he won the King of the North tournament.[6] At the end of the year, Cagematch ranked him at No. 5 for theEuro-Match des Jahres Cagematch Year End Awards.[7] After his return to theindependent circuit following his participation inWWE'sCruiserweight Classic in 2016, he won the NEW World Tag Team Championship tournament with Mexx.[8] In 2017, he competed for theGerman Wrestling Federation (GWF) and Belgium's Flemish Wrestling Force (FWF).[9][10]
In June 2016,WWE announced Aichner as one of the 32 participants in theCruiserweight Classic tournament.[11] He was selected to represent Italy during the tournament,[12][13] and was eliminated by the United Kingdom'sJack Gallagher in the first round.[14] On 5 June 2017, it was announced that he had signed a contract with WWE.[15] He made his television debut on 27 September episode ofNXT, losing toKassius Ohno. While still under contract with WWE, he made an appearance at Evolve 115 (which has a partnership with WWE) and won theEvolve Championship fromShane Strickland. At Evolve 116, he successfully defended the title against Kassius Ohno, but he lost it toAustin Theory at Evolve 117.
Returning to WWE in September 2017, Aichner formed a team withMarcel Barthel, going on to compete on both the NXT andNXT UKbrands. They would later align themselves withWalter andAlexander Wolfe in May 2019, forming the teamImperium. On 13 May 2020, Barthel and Aichner defeatedMatt Riddle andTimothy Thatcher (the latter substituting forPete Dunne) to win theNXT Tag Team Championship.[16] They successfully defended against teams such asOney Lorcan andDanny Burch, Breezango (Tyler Breeze andFandango), andThe Undisputed Era. They lost the championship to Breezango on the August 26 episode ofNXT, ending their reign at 105 days.[17] They failed to regain the titles from Breezango in a rematch on the September 16 episode ofNXT. On 26 October 2021, atHalloween Havoc, Barthel and Aichner captured the championship for a second time by defeatingMSK, and would successfully defend their titles atWarGames againstKyle O'Reilly andVon Wagner. AtNXT Stand & Deliver in April 2022, Aichner and Barthel lost the titles back to MSK in a triple threat tag team match also involving TheCreed Brothers, ending their reign at 158 days. Aichner's final appearance as a member of Imperium was on the April 5 episode ofNXT, when he and Barthel faced The Creed Brothers in a losing effort. Aichner then walked out on Barthel, and Imperium would later debut on theSmackDown brand without Aichner.
On the 24 May episode ofNXT, vignettes aired promoting the debut of Aichner's new onscreen character, a wealthy Italian snob namedGiovanni Vinci whose catchphrase was "Veni, Vidi, Vinci".[18] He re-debuted on the 14 June episode ofNXT, defeating Guru Raaj.[19] On the 16 August episode ofNXT: Heatwave, he unsuccessfully challengedCarmelo Hayes for theNXT North American Championship. On 3 September, atClash at the Castle, he reunited with Walter (now called Gunther) and Barthel (now called Ludwig Kaiser) in Imperium. Imperium were drafted to theRaw brand in the2023 WWE Draft.[20][21] On 22 April 2024 episode ofRaw, after Kaiser and Vinci lost toThe New Day, Kaiser attacked Vinci and kicked him out of Imperium.[22] A week later at Night 2 of the2024 WWE Draft, Vinci was drafted to the SmackDown brand in the supplemental draft. On the 9 August edition ofSmackDown, a vignette aired for Vinci's return to the brand, reverting to his singles character from NXT 2.0 back in 2022.[23] On 6 September, Vinci wrestled his return match for the brand on the lastSmackDown on FOX, losing toApollo Crewsin three seconds.[24] Two weeks later, Vinci again lost to Crews and attacked Crews after the match in what was his final televised appearance.[25] After months of inactivity, on February 8, 2025, Vinci was released from WWE, ending his eight-year tenure with the company, with the 90-day no compete clause to expire on 8 May. According toDave Meltzer, it was reported that Vinci was to be repackaged into a rich playboy character prior to his departure, but nothing ever came into fruition.[26]
,Cagematch