NXT has been scouring the world for potential WWE Superstars; two of their recent finds may look familiar to you. Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel have both been featured here on
Beefcakes of Wrestling before, but you probably know them more by the ring names they previously used, i.e., Adrian Severe and Axel Dieter, Jr. Aichner is originally from Italy but he was signed for so many years to German-based promotion New European Championship Wrestling (NEW) that I mistook him for German (I've identified him as German in all my previous posts on him, but apparently, I was wrong). Barthel is German and was signed to a different German-based promotion called Westside Xtreme Wrestling (WXW). Both wrestlers are 26 years old; after signing with WWE/NXT, these two are now using their real names. Thanks to longtime contributor and good friend of this blog David for taking these excellent pics of Aichner/Severe and Barthel/Dieter. Can't wait to see what he'll photograph next.
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Fabian Aichner aka Adrian Severe
6 ft. 0 in., 203 lbs. Trained by Alex Wright |
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| Aichner/Severe made his pro debut in 2011. |
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| His opponent here is Brazilian import Adrian Jaoude. |
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Marcel Barthel aka Axel Dieter Jr.
6 ft. 3 in., 187 pounds.
Trained by his father, pro wrestler Axel Dieter. |
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| Barthel/Dieter made his pro debut in 2009. |
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| His opponent here is Roderick Strong. |
Each is very fine--prefer Marcel/Axel, but it's a close call. tt
ReplyDeleteSince Fabian Aichner appeared in Cruiserweight Classic I've been looking forwards to his debut in NXT.
ReplyDeleteTo clarify, Aichner is from the autonomous Italian province of South Tyrol, where over 60% of the population speaks German. It was separated from Austria after WWI. So, although his passport may be from Italy, he probably does not identify himself as an "Italian" ethnically, and also probably moved seamlessly into wrestling in Germany. Anon.
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