Why WWE Star Was In Different Role At Live Events

A European WWE superstar was in an unusual role at some recent live events.

Ludwig Kaiser has been a part of WWE since 2017. He was first known as Marcel Barthel on the NXT brand before a name change was made to Kaiser.

During most of his WWE run, Kaiser has been part of the Imperium group led by the World Heavyweight Champion Gunther. In recent months, WWE has separated Gunther and Kaiser so that Kaiser is more of a singles star focused on finding his own success instead of just being part of the group.

The former two-time NXT Tag Team Champion Kaiser has also been a heel for the majority of his WWE career.

While being a heel is a natural thing for Kaiser, there was a change at recent live events. There are fewer live events in this current era of WWE. There have been no domestic live events to start 2025, but there have been live events on the current European tour.

During the Saturday live event in Dortmund, Germany, and Sunday in Hannover, Germany, Fightful Select reports that Kaiser was in a babyface role since he’s from Germany. At those shows, Kaiser beat Austin Theory on Saturday and Grayson Waller on Sunday. The Theory & Waller team are heels everywhere they go, so it was smart for Kaiser to be in a babyface role in his home country.

Penta Defeats Ludwig Kaiser On WWE Raw In A Street Fight

At the first-ever WWE Monday Night Raw in Brussels, Belgium, Ludwig Kaiser was in action against Penta in a Street Fight. Before the match, there was a “Ludwig Kaiser” chant from the Belgian crowd since Belgium is beside Germany. Despite those chants from the fans, Kaiser was in his usual heel role for TV matches.

In a pre-match promo, Kaiser demanded respect and told the fans to shut up. Kaiser said he would take care of Penta for good. Kaiser said he’s the fastest rising star in WWE while Penta will lose what fear truly means.

The match between Penta and Kaiser was a physical one with Kaiser doing a Death Valley Driver onto the announcer’s table, which didn’t break. They also used chairs in the match, which led to Penta kicking a chair into Kaiser’s face.

It was all Penta in the final moments since he jumped off the top with a Mexican Destroyer onto the chair in the ring. Penta hit the Penta Driver for the pinfall win to likely put an end to his rivalry with Kaiser.