WWE Rumors: War Raiders were almost called something better than 'The Viking Experience'

What's the story?

Perhaps the biggest talking point coming out of WWE's two-day Superstar Shakeup event that took place over both Monday Night RAW and SmackDown LIVE was the debut of current NXT Tag-Team Champions and the incredibly popular independent tag-team War Raiders with the controversial renaming of 'The Viking Experience'.

However, it has now been revealed that WWE almost had another name in mind for Hanson and Raymond Rowe as a tag team.

In case you didn't know...

Hanson and Raymond Rowe rose to fame with superb performance after superb performances on the independent wrestling circuit under the name War Machine, and they would go on to appear for New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor as well as other top non-WWE promotions.

The pair signed a WWE contract in January 2018 and were renamed 'War Raiders' and would win their first titles in WWE just over a year later when they defeated The Undisputed Era for the NXT Tag-Team Titles at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix.

They made their Main Roster debuts on April 15th, 2019 in one of the biggest surprises of the Superstar Shakeup on Monday Night RAW, teaming with The Revival to take on Ricochet and Aleister Black and current Raw Tag-Team Champions Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins.

The heart of the matter

Hanson and Rowe were a huge surprise when they debuted on Monday Night RAW despite being the reigning NXT Tag-Team Champions, and only having held the belts for a relatively short amount of time.

What was a bigger surprise, however, was the fact they were no longer called War Raiders but had been renamed 'The Viking Experience'. Hanson and Rowe had also been renamed to Ivar and Erik.

However, Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com has reported that WWE did have a different name lined up - The Berzerkers, until it was nixed by someone backstage in WWE and they eventually settled on The Viking Experience.

What's next?

I'm confident that Rowe and Han...sorry. Ivar and Erik are good enough to overcome the poor gimmick and name and get truly over on the WWE's main roster, they're that good! Could they be the first tag-team to hold NXT and main roster gold?

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Do you prefer The Berzerkers to The Viking Experience? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!