WALTER appears on WWE NXT, lays out Tommaso Ciampa

NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER made an appearance on NXT tonight and looks to be headed toward a match against Tommaso Ciampa.

After his Imperium stablemate Marcel Barthel lost to Ciampa on NXT tonight, WALTER came down to the ring to confront Ciampa. Ciampa was then attacked by Imperium’s Barthel and Fabian Aichner. He tried to fight them off, but WALTER then dropped Ciampa with a chop. WALTER laid out Ciampa with a powerbomb, then Imperium posed over Ciampa.

Ciampa had mentioned WALTER while speaking with Timothy Thatcher on NXT last week. Ciampa said he wasn’t interested in Imperium’s offer for Ciampa and Thatcher to join the group, but he was interested in facing Imperium’s general. Ciampa said WALTER was sitting safely across the pond holding onto the NXT United Kingdom Championship while the rest of Imperium did his dirty work.

A promo had aired last week where Barthel spoke about Thatcher’s history with the Imperium members. Aichner said that if Thatcher has to ask Ciampa for permission to join them, he could bring Ciampa along too. Aichner said that, out of respect for Thatcher, they’d make it work. Aichner said Imperium is taking over — no matter what.

Ciampa & Thatcher vs. Barthel & Aichner had originally been announced for tonight’s NXT, but Thatcher didn’t appear on the show. Ciampa said he assumed Imperium didn’t like Thatcher’s answer to their offer and took matters into their own hands.

Ciampa indicated on tonight’s NXT that he had attacked Imperium’s Alexander Wolfe before facing Barthel.

WALTER has been NXT United Kingdom Champion since defeating Pete Dunne for the title at NXT TakeOver: New York in April 2019. Tonight was WALTER’s first appearance on NXT US since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

An appearance by WALTER is set for this Thursday’s NXT UK episode. It was said that WALTER has requested the platform to make a statement on the show.