Triple H shook his head when Vince McMahon made unpopular Superstar name change

One of the most drastic WWE name changes in 2019 came when The War Raiders’ Hanson and Rowe became The Viking Experience’s Ivar and Erik after moving from NXT to RAW in April 2019.

The decision to change the name of both Superstars, as well as their tag team name, was not met favourably by the WWE Universe, and the former NXT Tag Team Champions were soon rebranded as The Viking Raiders, while The Viking Experience became the name of their finisher.

Speaking on Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast, Erik explained that the current RAW Tag Team Champions originally wanted to be known as The Viking Raiders instead of The War Raiders in NXT, and they were not happy when they found out they would be named The Viking Experience on RAW.

After asking Triple H if the name change was real, the 14-time World Champion shook his head and told them to speak to Vince McMahon, who they quickly caught up with shortly before RAW went on the air.

“We got him, we were able to talk to him, and we were able to plead our case about the name. It sounds like a Disney ride. And then we started shooting off other options – we had at least ten names that we were giving him – and the last one we gave him was The Viking Raiders. He kind of paused on that one and he was like, ‘Alright, well, this is how we’re going to introduce you, as The Viking Experience, and if we’re not feeling that going forward, maybe we can change it to something else.”

(If you use quotes from this article, please credit After The Bell and give a H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription).

'Vince McMahon loves Vikings'

Erik added that Vince McMahon is a big fan of the television show Vikings and he “loves Vikings in general”, so they were confident that the WWE Chairman would enjoy their gimmick on the main roster.

WWE also briefly changed their names to The Berzerkers before settling on The Viking Experience for their debut appearance on RAW.