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Missing WWE Star Bringing Back Old Gimmick

By John Canton • Published 10th August 2024
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An absent WWE superstar is coming back to the SmackDown brand after a video was shown on television.

For most of his seven-year run in World Wrestling Entertainment on the NXT UK brand, the NXT brand, and on the main roster, Giovanni Vinci was a part of the Imperium group along with Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser.

There was even a time when Vinci was known as Fabian Aichner in WWE, but that ended up changing and he took on the Vinci name. As Fabian Aichner, he was a two-time NXT Tag Team Champion with Marcel Barthel, which was Ludwig Kaiser’s name at the time.

This past April on WWE Raw, Ludwig Kaiser assaulted his longtime tag team partner Giovanni Vinci. The attack included Kaiser hitting Vinci with a dropkick while Kaiser’s head was against the steel steps. After the attack, Gunther approved it showing that he likely instructed Kaiser to attack Vinci, which was WWE’s way of taking Vinci out of the group.

When the WWE Draft took place in May, Gunther and Kaiser were drafted together to the Raw brand while Vinci was drafted to Smackdown. At the time, Vinci tweeted #VeniVidiVinci along with a Smackdown graphic.

For the past four months, there was no sign of Vinci on Smackdown until a vignette that aired this week.

Giovanni Vinci Returning To WWE Smackdown

On WWE Smackdown from Tulsa, there was a video package about Giovanni Vinci talking in Italian about his relentless drive and how he is coming to Smackdown soon. The video featured Vinci driving around in a sports car. The “Veni, Vidi, Vinci” phrase was in the video as well. That’s part of the gimmick that Vinci used in the past in NXT as well.

There was no date given for when Vinci will make his in-ring return on television, but the fact that there are video packages airing means that it will likely be soon.