The Viking Raiders is a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Ivar and Erik currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Before WWE, they wrestled under the team name War Machine. In Ring of Honor (ROH) they are former ROH World Tag Team Champions. Outside of Ring Of Honor, they have also worked for multiple independent promotions in the United Kingdom and United States, including Insane Championship Wrestling, Revolution Pro Wrestling, Progress Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. As team War Machine, Hanson and Rowe have also competed in Japan for Pro Wrestling NOAH and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), where they are former two-time IWGP Tag Team Champions.
History[]
Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling (2014-2018)[]
In 2014, Hanson and Rowe participated in the Top Prospect Tournament, where they met in the finals. Hanson defeated Rowe to win the tournament Since then, they performed as a tag team under the name War Machine. On April 11, Hanson and Rowe both signed contracts with ROH. On August 22, 2015, War Machine defeated Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) in a non-title match and afterwards challenged them to a match for their GHC Tag Team Championship, a title owned by the Japanese Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion. War Machine received their title shot in Japan on September 19, but were defeated by the Killer Elite Squad. On December 18 at Final Battle, War Machine defeated The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett) to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) on May 9, 2016, at War of the Worlds. In late 2016, War Machine took part in New Japan Pro Wrestling's 2016 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals. Hanson and Rowe debuted for the United Kingdom based Revolution Pro Wrestling in January 2017, unsuccessfully challenging Joel Redman and Charlie Sterling for the RevPro Undisputed British Tag Team Championship.
On April 9, 2017, at New Japan's Sakura Genesis 2017, War Machine defeated Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) on June 11 at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall, regaining it in a no disqualification match on July 1 at G1 Special in USA. They lost the title to Killer Elite Squad in a three-way match, also involving Guerrillas of Destiny, on September 24 at Destruction in Kobe. War Machine finished with ROH at Final Battle on December 15, 2017 and on December 16, 2017. They had their final matches with NJPW on January 4, 2018, at Wrestle Kingdom 12, and January 5, 2018 at New Year's Dash.
World Wrestling Entertainment (2018–present)[]
On January 16, 2018, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), via WWE.com, announced that Rowe and Hanson had signed a contract with the company and would be reporting to the WWE Performance Center. Before NXT Takeover: New Orleans, during a TV taping, Rowe and Hanson debuted, now under the name "War Raiders", interfering in a match between Heavy Machinery (Tucker Knight & Otis Dozovic) and Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss, causing it to end in no contest. The War Raiders won their first championship on January 26, 2019 at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix, during which they defeated The Undisputed ERA (Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong) to become the NXT Tag Team Champions for the first time. This has marked their first championship reign since joining the WWE.
In wrestling[]
- Double-team finishing moves
- Fallout (Belly-to-back suplex) (Rowe/Erik) / Diving leg drop (Hanson/Ivar) combination)
- War Machine Combo Slam / Thor's Hammer / The Viking Experience (WWE) (Double-team powerslam)
- Double-team signature moves
- Double chokeslam
- Hanson/Ivar powerbombs Rowe/Erik onto a grounded opponent
- Rowe/Erik whips opponent into a Seated Senton from Hanson
- Hanson/Ivar lifts both opponents onto Rowe/Erik for a simultaneous powerbomb and powerslam
- Rowe/Erik throws Hanson/Ivar off apron for cannonball
- Double Lawn Dart
- Entrance music
- "Blood and Tears" by Eric Baumont and Jean-Michel Bacou
- "Prepare For War" by David Grimason
- "War" by CFO$
- Nicknames
- "The Modern-Day Vikings"
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Brew City Wrestling
- BCW Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked Hanson #108 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
- PWI ranked Rowe #97 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
- The team was ranked #35 in the 2020 PWI Top 50 Tag Teams
- The team was ranked #64 in the 2022 PWI Top 100 Tag Teams
- VIP Wrestling
- VIP Tag Team Championship (1 time)
