During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, WWE Superstar Erik of the Viking Raiders gave fans a detailed and often hilarious look behind the scenes of the team’s controversial name change on the WWE main roster — a shift that still sparks discussion among fans to this day.
Originally known as War Machine before signing with WWE, the tag team became War Raiders in NXT. Erik explained that before settling on that name, WWE initially pitched “Doomsday Raiders.”
“We were like oof. Okay, could we give you some ideas? So Ivar and I… probably gave 50 names back. Then someone told us they really want to put ‘raiders’ in the name. So we came up with 50 names with ‘raiders’ in them, and the number one on our list was actually Viking Raiders.”
Despite suggesting it themselves, the name was initially passed over.
“I think it was Hunter who was like, ‘We’re kind of thinking War Raiders.’ And we’re like, yeah, War Raiders is the coolest name we’ve ever heard.”
However, that all changed when they were called up to WWE Raw—and the team was suddenly renamed The Viking Experience, a decision Erik says blindsided them during their debut taping.
“I see our music starts playing, and it’s ‘War Raiders’ up on the screen, and then the logo changes, and ‘Berserkerz’ comes up… Then that goes away, and ‘The Viking Experience’ comes up. I look and I’m like, Oh no!”
Erik immediately went to Triple H for answers.
“I walk up to him and I was like, ‘Hey dude, is this a rib?’ He just shakes his head and goes, ‘I wish.’”
From there, Erik and Ivar took their concerns straight to Vince McMahon, who was adamant that the “Viking” name stick due to his love for the History Channel’s Vikings series.
“Little known fact, Vince was a big fan of the history show Vikings, which is probably why we got called up in the first place… Vince was really stuck on us being Vikings.”
They pleaded their case, arguing “The Viking Experience” sounded more like a Disney World attraction than a serious tag team.
“We said, ‘It sounds like a small world, the teacups… bring your kids.’”
McMahon reportedly agreed the name wasn’t ideal but said it was too late to get another option cleared through legal. So, the team debuted as The Viking Experience — a name WWE promptly dropped after heavy fan backlash.
“He was like, ‘You’ll be the Viking Experience today, and if we really don’t like it, then we’ll be Viking Raiders next week. And, you know, no press is bad press.’”
Before the meeting ended, Vince gave them their new individual names — Erik and Ivar — seemingly on a whim.
“He goes, ‘Oh and by the way, one of you is Ivar, and one of you is Erik, I don’t care who.’”
Erik nearly chose the opposite name out of spite:
“Ivar grabs my arm and he’s like, ‘Please don’t make me be Erik. My brother’s name is Erik.’ The bully in my brain for like three seconds… but I let him have it.”
The names, Erik later discovered, were likely just pulled from history:
“I Googled famous Viking names. First one was Erik the Red. Then it was Ivar the Boneless. So it’s literally just Erik, Ivar. You guys are Vikings, yep — Erik and Ivar.”
Despite the rocky rollout, the Viking Raiders have gone on to become mainstays in WWE’s tag team division.
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