How did Valhalla come into existence in WWE? History and background explored

Valhalla has been a quiet revelation on WWE SmackDown for the last few months. She has been a great addition to The Viking Raiders, who are already a top team on the WWE product.

Everyone knows Valhalla as WWE's Sarah Logan, a superstar who left the company in 2020. She made a triumphant comeback in 2022 and said the phrase "Valhalla is here" a few times in vignettes, with WWE giving her the name change a couple of weeks later. The supernatural character accompanies Erik and Ivar and often gets involved in their business.

The word has meanings rooted in Norse mythology. It refers to a grand palace where warriors live under the rule of the god Odin. Running this new character has been great for Logan, who looks inspired and a completely different person at this moment in time.

The former Riott Squad member was doing well all those years ago, but there was a relatively low ceiling to the gimmick. This one, however, looks like it could be big for her and for The Viking Raiders. Let's hope this is the break the talented performer needs.

Valhalla accused of stealing her gimmick

Valhalla may be doing well in WWE, but her character has not come without controversy. She was accused of plagiarism by NWA’s Natalia Markova, who stated that the gimmick was a direct copy of the popular 'Max the Impaler' character.

“I mean, honestly, I think it is a ripoff because I know for a fact that Sarah knows Max....But I think that she just saw that it was successful and she was like, alright, I’m in a bigger company and I can do whatever I want. I think people just feel like they could do whatever they want if they’re in WWE, which honestly, again, if it would be 50 years ago when there was no internet, you can get away with that....It was just totally similar. To me, it feels like a disrespectful ripoff. I think that shouldn’t be happening in wrestling.” [H/T Wrestling Headlines]

Max the Impaler is very similar to Logan's version. As Markova suggested, the latter probably based her character on the Impaler. It remains to be seen whether it will become as successful.