WWE: Alexander Wolfe could finally breakout on NXT UK

Previously a dark horse member of Sanity on WWE’s main roster, Alexander Wolfe now has the opportunity to breakout in a big way in NXT UK as a member of WALTER’s Imperium.

Earlier this week on WWE’s UK version of the black and yellow brand, British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate and Trent Seven) continued their intense feud with Imperium (United Kingdom Champion WALTER, Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel). During the stable’s Six-Man Tag Team main event, after the referee took a bump to the outside, a masked, hooded figure made his way to the ring. That hooded figure was none other than Alexander Wolfe.

Wolfe revealed himself as the fourth member of Imperium by nailing Bate with a devastating sit-out powerbomb and allowing Barthel to get the pinfall victory for his team. In his reintroduction to the WWE Universe, Alexander Wolfe stood tall in arguably the biggest spotlight that he was ever afforded since joining WWE; main roster run included.

Alexander Wolfe is best recognized by WWE viewers for his work in the Sanity stable, but prior to signing, he made a name for himself in Westside Xtreme Wrestling, a promotion based in Wolfe’s homeland of Germany. There, as Axel Tischer, he was one of the promotion’s top stars. Most notably, he won the wXw Unified World Title. His run there was enough to earn him the attention of and a contract from WWE in 2015.

When Wolfe first got signed, even Daniel Bryan had to take the time to praise him and point out that fans had a lot to be excited about for the future. Four years later, Wolfe may finally live up to those expectations.

When Wolfe first formed Sanity with Eric Young, Nikki Cross and Killian Dain, their NXT roster run started off hot, but the former wXw star was always overlooked in the group. Young was the leader, Cross was always the clear standout and Dain was pegged as the group’s breakout star due to his deceptive agility as a big man. Wolfe was just, well, Wolfe.

Perhaps it was because while his teammates were well recognized by the hardcore Full Sail crowd for their work on the indies in America, Westerners weren’t as familiar with Wolfe’s work and never saw what he did outside of the USA. Therefore, they weren’t sure what to get excited about in his case specifically. Maybe that created a disconnect between fans and him for the most part. Although, it did make him something of a dark horse in Sanity.

Which, in turn, allowed him the opportunity to win crowds over when they least expected with stellar, eye opening performances, such as his show stealing performance during the first NXT War Games match.

Then came their main roster run, where Sanity got lost in the shuffle faster than your head could spin. Again, like their NXT debut, their run on SmackDown Live started off strong. A tag team can’t ask for a better debut when they start off by laying out The Usos, the resident top faces of WWE’s tag division. Sadly, WWE failed to capitalize on Sanity’s momentum. In quick time, they racked up loss after loss and would disappear for months at a time.

Eventually, when the Superstar Shake-Up of 2019 came to fruition, WWE realized that the best way to salvage each man’s career was to quietly end Sanity and split each Superstar off onto different brands. Young went to Raw, Killian Dain went to NXT (although he’s yet to debut) and Wolfe, as we know now, is in NXT UK.

It could be too early to say this, but Wolfe is already in a better spot as a member of Imperium than he was as a member of Sanity. While Sanity did have some success here and there (including a decent run as NXT Tag Team Champions), being in Imperium immediately launches Wolfe into a storyline with the brand’s top champion. As a result, that means all eyes are on him; he couldn’t possibly be overlooked if he tried this time around.

Plus, it helps that fans are already more familiar with him than they were during his Sanity run. Not just because of his last four years on the WWE roster, but because the UK crowd is most likely to be familiar with his real life allegiance with Barthel and WALTER as the founders of the Ringkampf clothing line. Yes, Barthel, WALTER and Wolfe all created their own fashion line and I’m not gonna lie, their apparel is pretty swanky. But that’s beside the point.

The point is that after a tumultuous four years in WWE filled with ups and downs, Alexander Wolfe now is primed and ready for a breakout. Not just as a stablemate, but potentially for a future singles run. The NXT UK crowd is the perfect place for Wolfe to spread his wings and – hopefully – live up to whatever expectations were made for him upon first signing his WWE contract.