Viking Raider Ivar was among a multitude of people unhappy with the ‘Viking Experience’ name but that didn’t matter as “one man” was on board with the name.
Ivar, alongside Erik, had established themselves as War Machine and the War Raiders for years before being called up to the main roster in 2019. The move from WWE NXT to Monday Night Raw saw the pair rechristened the ‘Viking Experience’ which was met with a backlash from fans who felt the name was goofy.
Ivar On The Viking Experience
Shortly after the Viking Experience was revealed, a compromise was reached for the team to be named the Viking Raiders, a nod to their previous name. Speaking on the Insight podcast, Ivar discussed how the name came about.
“Vince [McMahon] loves Vikings. So he found out there was a team in NXT that were Vikings. ‘Yes, I want them.’ And he wanted Viking in our name and they couldn’t pass anything through legal. There’s already a Vikings football team, there’s already a Vikings TV show. So none of the names they were trying, whatever they were, were getting through.
“And then somebody, I won’t say who, it was asked in a meeting ‘What are they? Describe them!’ And somebody describes us as ‘they’re this, they’re that. They’re like a Viking… Experience.’ That’s it! They’re the Viking Experience. And not one person was happy or okay with that except for the one man. So we were stuck.”
WWE changing the name amid fan backlash was an example of the company listening to the fans at a time when it felt like that wasn’t happening. Since then, the Viking Raiders have gone on to hold the Raw Tag Team Championships and have established themselves as one of the top teams on WWE’s main roster.
