34-year-old major WWE star squashed within five seconds after SmackDown debut

SmackDown arena
This WWE star is a former NXT Tag Team Champion (Image source: WWE's website)

A major WWE star made his SmackDown debut tonight. However, he was squashed within seconds.

Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser were part of Imperium along with Gunther. They remained a faction for several years in WWE and experienced a lot of success in NXT. When they moved up to the main roster, Kaiser and Vinci were instrumental in The Ring General's reign as the Intercontinental Champion.

However, Kaiser and Vinci were far from being a successful team. Due to Gunther's tactics, it seemed like both were constantly pitted against each other for their Ring General's approval. It all ended when Kaiser turned on Giovanni Vinci after their loss to New Day in April 2024. This was his last appearance on WWE TV.

A couple of weeks ago, vignettes of Giovanni Vinci started airing during SmackDown. He was set to debut against Apollo Crews on the blue brand tonight.

Vinci made a long entrance while his opponent had to wait. However, when Vinci was slowly removing his tracksuit, Crews took the opportunity and rolled him up for the win, making this one of the quickest wins in history.

It will be interesting to see how Giovanni Vinci will redeem himself after this embarrassing loss on SmackDown.