Gunther Talks Changing His Name, Malcolm Bivens Responds

The former WALTER has provided an explanation for his new WWE NXT ring name – Gunther.

This week's NXT 2.0 episode featured a new promo from Imperium (Gunther, NXT Tag Team Champions Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner), where the group looked ahead to a new era, and Gunther why he has changed his name. The Ring General noted that he is leaving the past behind because it is time to stand on his own two feet with his own identity.

"Imperium. Our name stands for dominance, our name stands for pride, our name stands for success," Barthel said.

"The same goes for my name, the name I'm known as all over the world," Gunther said. "The name my parents gave me in honor of our family patriarch, my grandfather, the man who introduced me to this great sport. But now it is time to leave the past behind and guide Imperium into the future, standing on my own two feet, with my own identity."

Barthel added, "It is time, it's the dawn of a new time for Imperium. We're closing the door on the past and opening the door to a whole new future, a whole new age."

"It's going to be a future led by this man, a man who will spread pain and fear throughout the entire WWE," Aichner said.

The leader of Imperium then declared that Gunther has arrived.

We noted before how next week's NXT episode will feature six-man action with Imperium taking on The Diamond Mine (Roderick Strong, The Creed Brothers). That match was made after a backstage promo from Malcolm Bivens and the rest of the group, which you can also see below. Bivens said Gunther is an awful name, and he can't believe his parents named him that. He also said Gunther should've been named "DUMBASS" in all caps. Bivens went on to declare that The Creed Brothers will take the NXT Tag Team Titles from Barthel and Aichner, while Strong will chop Gunther down, then Ivy Nile will stretch them all out.

It was recently revealed that WWE had filed to trademark "Gunther Stark" for WALTER's new name, but they abandoned that trademark and dropped the last name due to criticism over the fact that "Gunther Stark" is also the name of a U-boat Commander for Nazi Germany in World War II. Gunther is now working full-time on the main roster after moving to the United States.

Stay tuned for more on Imperium and The Diamond Mine. Below are the two promos from NXT 2.0: