Wrestling star Ludwig Kaiser has reportedly been arrested days before one of WWE’s most anticipated matches.
The 35-year-old wrestler, whose real name is Marcel Barthel, has been portraying El Grande Americano on TV since June 2025 and is due to face Original El Grande Americano (Chad Gable) at AAA Noche de los Grande on May 30.
However, on May 20, Barthel was arrested and charged with misdemeanour battery, casting doubt over the Mask versus Mask bout.
According to an Affidavit for Arrest Warrant seen by Metro on the Orange County Clerk’s office website, Barthel, who has pleaded not guilty, has been accused of battery by another male resident in his Orlando apartment block.
In the documents, it’s alleged that in April 2026, the man had asked Barthel and his partner to ‘please have some manners’ after they started ‘acting in an “uncontrollably intimate” manner, which he described as aggressively kissing’.
It’s alleged that immediately after his comment, he was punched by ‘multiple times’ and pushed to the ground, before the defendant ‘made threats of additional violence toward him’.
In further court documents, Barthel’s attorney has confirmed his client’s ‘intent to participate in discovery’ regarding the allegation, and has ‘requested a trial of the said charges’.
In a motion filed on May 21, Barthel entered a request to be allowed to travel ‘throughout the United States and around the world’. In the motion, it’s noted that Barthel ‘became aware of a warrant for his arrest’ on May 19, while he was ‘in Mexico for work purposes’.
It’s said he returned to Orlando on May 20 and ‘turned himself in to the Orange County Jail’, and was released ‘after posting a $1,000 bond’. The motion notes that he has ‘no prior criminal history anywhere in the world and is not a danger to others’, while he ‘maintains his innocence and has retained undersigned counsel to assist him in this matter’.
In light of that, he has filed a motion to be allowed to continue to work, which would include his upcoming match for AAA.
Neither WWE nor the wrestler have made a public statement on the arrest or charges.
As El Grande Americano, the German star has become a fan favourite in Mexico as part of WWE’s Lucha Libre AAA brand, which is run by Hall of Famer The Undertaker.
He took over the Americano mask and character after Chad Gable suffered a torn rotator cuff injury in last summer, and over the past few months the pair have been locked in an intense storyline rivalry.
The feud has also spilled over to Monday Night Raw with the Creed Brothers and Los Americanos (Rayo and Bravo) getting involved. On May 30, both El Grande Americanos are due to face off in a bitter grudge match, with the loser being forced to unmask, which is seen as a mark of disrespect in lucha libre culture.
Back in 2024, Barthel opened up about his influences as a wrestling fan his his teens, and how he was drawn to ‘larger than life characters’ despite spending much of his career adopting a more serious persona.
‘I think Randy Orton is one of the best to ever do it. I loved The Rock back in the day, I loved Kurt Angle back in the day, Triple H, Shawn Michaels,’ he exclusively told Metro.
‘Obviously when you watch them as a teenager that does something with you, right? I can’t really pinpoint it to “I took this from from [Triple H], and I took this from Kurt Angle”, but definitely that shapes you one way or the other…
‘Those guys were definitely influences when it comes to wrestling in general.’
Metro has contacted WWE and the Orlando Police Department for comment.
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