Whether it’s their name or not, the War Raiders are still Vikings at heart.
The two-time World Tag Team Champions came back from their respective neck injuries with a new name and a renewed aggression. Erik and Ivar shared how it felt to be the War Raiders once again, with Erik explaining how there were layers to his answer.
Erik reacts to being the War Raiders again
“That’s kind of a two-level question. First, going back to the War Raiders actually gave us this freedom to be ourselves in a way that we’ve never been able to do at WWE. And honestly, we were struggling to do [that] as War Machine as well,” Erik explained. “Being able to show authentically who we are and be more true to us as people and characters and personalities is really, really special, especially on the stage of WWE.
“The conversation started while we were both hurt. We had been off TV for several months. One of our writers sent a random text message,” he continued. “He was like, ‘Hey, we were talking about you guys coming back and talking about some ideas. Hunter floated like he wanted to see how you guys would feel about going back to the War Raiders.’ I think we both responded at the same time, in all caps, ‘HELL YES.’ Yeah.”
Are they glad the Viking Experience is over?
Erik previously revealed Vince McMahon was a fan of Vikings and insisted on the name. The duo only used the ‘Viking Experience’ name for a week. It was widely criticized by fans, but it’s still the source of memes. Is it safe to say they’re happy that ‘Experience’ is over?
“Yes and no. Yeah, it brought us here. And like the Viking Experience, those six days, because it was only six days that we were the Viking Experience,” Erik explained. “Twitter will never let us forget, ever. But like, even during those six days, we were the same people, right? We did the same moves, we wore the same costumes, we had the same move-set. Uh, we just had a silly name for six days. And people still, the memes are unforgiving.”
Ivar also said that name might’ve been silly, but they are still Vikings in a more authentic way.
“Yes and no… It’s not like we are not Vikings now. We’re modern-day Vikings,” Ivar added. “It’s a big part of who we are. It’s a big part of our history, and we didn’t just shed it and throw it in the trash. No. We are still Vikings now, we’re just modern-day.”
Watch our full interview with the War Raiders below:
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