WWE

A WWE star has opened up on the origins of their current tag team presentation, including how the idea ended up with creative.

Erik & Ivar have been members of the WWE roster for nearly seven years and are currently the Viking Raiders managed by Valhalla.

Joining WWE in January 2018, they would be War Raiders on NXT having been known as War Machine on the independent circuit, including their time in Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Their call up to the main roster would see them debut as The Viking Experience on WWE Raw in April 2019 with the name being widely mocked on social media and landing them on a WrestleTalk list of terrible names.

A week later, The Viking Raiders would be born and the team would go on to become WWE Raw Tag Team Champions.

In an interview with Fightful, Erik has spoken about the origins of their current team name, saying:

“It’s funny because we get a lot of flack online as far as name changes, costume changes, whatever.

“We pitched the name Viking Raiders. We pitched the costumes, we designed it and wanted to be in that creative direction for a long time.

“This current evolution of our characters and current evolution of the look was us.

“We had concept art drawn and presented it to creative. We had gear made and that was okay’d. We brought it forth to TV.

“There is so much that happens backstage, you have no idea. We love the new direction, we love the new look. The energy, especially with Valhalla now.

“It’s presented in a way that suits the look and feels more true to who we are.”

Viking Raiders recently faced Alpha Academy on the May 22 episode of WWE Raw.

Highlights from this encounter can be seen below this news story.

Their paths would cross again on the May 29 episode of WWE Raw when Alpha Academy would introduce Maxxine Dupri as a new member.

Here are full results from WWE Night of Champions 2023:

World Heavyweight Championship – Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins def. AJ Styles

Trish Stratus def. Becky Lynch after interference from Zoey Stark

Intercontinental Championship – Gunther (c) def. Mustafa Ali

Raw Women’s Championship – Asuka def. Bianca Belair (c)

SmackDown Women’s Championship – Rhea Ripley (c) def. Natalya

Brock Lesnar def. Cody Rhodes

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship – Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (c) def. Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa after the Usos accidentally superkicked Sikoa, and Jimmy Uso purposely superkicked Reigns

If you want to stay fully updated on all the latest wrestling news, click the red bell in the bottom right of your screen to receive notifications from WrestleTalk.com straight to your device!

• The Viking Raiders
• WWE creative
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