Here's What Name WWE Was Originally Going to Call The Viking Experience

On Monday Night Raw this week Hanson and Rowe of the War Raiders made their main roster debut as [...]

By Connor Casey

On Monday Night Raw this week Hanson and Rowe of the War Raiders made their main roster debut as they teamed up with The Revival to take on Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins, Ricochet and Aleister Black in an eight-man tag match. But while the match itself was fine, fans watching at home were confused by the new names the reigning NXT Tag Team Champions had been given — Erik and Ivar, The Viking Experience.

The name was widely panned on social media, with many saying it sounded like an amusement park ride (one UK tourist attraction even called WWE out for using the name). But according to PWInsider's Mike Johnson, The Viking Experience was not WWE's first choice when they decided to rename the tag team.

According to Johnson, the team was originally going to be called The Berzerkers. Once the news hit Twitter, fans were confused why the WWE didn't just stick with that.

"The Berzerkers is a million times better than Viking Experience. Wtf," one fan wrote.

"...Why the hell did they not go with THAT?!" wrote another.

Erik and Ivar originally teamed up as War Machine starting in 2014 in Ring of Honor. Together the pair won the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships twice and the Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championships once before joining the WWE in early 2018. The pair have yet to lose a match since joining the company, and defeated The Undisputed Era's Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong to win the NXT tag titles at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix in January.

The duo were just two of 14 wrestlers to make the jump from SmackDown Live, NXT and 205 Live to Monday Night Raw on Monday night. Other new acquisitions included AJ Styles, The Miz, Andrade, Rey Mysterio, The Usos, Eric Young, EC3, Ricochet, Black, Lacey Evans, Naomi and Zelina Vega.

Over on Tuesday nights, the Blue Brand picked up stars such as Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, Ember Moon, Bayley, Kairi Sane, Buddy Murphy, Heavy Machinery and Elias.

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