Raymond Rowe Sr. (born August 21, 1984) is an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

currently signed to

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

, where he performs on the SmackDown

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

Erik. He is also known for his work in

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was so ...

(ROH), where he and his

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

partner

Hanson Hanson or Hansson may refer to: People * Hanson (surname) * Hansson (surname) * Hanson (wrestler), ringname of an American professional wrestler Musical groups * Hanson (band), an American pop rock band * Hanson (UK band), an English rock ba ...

(collectively known as War Machine in ROH) are former ROH World Tag Team Champions and IWGP Tag Team Champions.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2003–2013)

Rowe was trained by Josh Prohibition and

Lou Marconi Lou Marconi (born June 19, 1973Pro Wrestling Illustrated. "Statistics for Professional Wrestlers." ''PWI 2001 Wrestling Almanac and Book of Facts''. Vol. IV. No. 1. Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: London Publishing Co., 2001. (pg. 46)) is an Amer ...

. He debuted on the

independent circuit In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective noun, collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor lea ...

in May 2003. On June 9, 2006, episode of ''Smackdown!'', Rowe competed against Mark Henry in a losing effort.

Ring of Honor (2013–2017)

Rowe made his

debut on June 1, 2013 in a losing effort against Bobby Fish. Following this, he returned to ROH on January 4, 2014, as part of that year's Top Prospect Tournament and defeated Kongo in a first round match. After managing to advance to the finals, Rowe ultimately lost the Tournament to

. Despite this, Rowe began regularly performing for ROH following the tournament in addition to forming the

War Machine with Hanson on April 4, 2014. In August, Rowe was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident and was out of action for several months. On March 1, 2015, Rowe made his return to ROH at the promotion's 13th Anniversary Show by assisting his partner Hanson after the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

main event. On August 22, War Machine defeated

Killer Elite Squad Killer Elite Squad, often abbreviated to K.E.S., was the professional wrestling tag team of Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer. The team made its debut in the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion in September 2012 and have since worked tog ...

(

Davey Boy Smith Jr. Harry Francis Smith (born August 2, 1985) is a Canadian professional wrestler, best known under the ring name Davey Boy Smith Jr. and his real name Harry Smith. He currently performs for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), where he was one ...

and Lance Archer) in a non-title match and afterwards challenged them to a match for their

GHC Tag Team Championship The Global Honored Crown (GHC) Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team title in Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Noah. It was created on October 19, 2001, when Scorpio & Vader defeated Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito in a tourname ...

, a title owned by the Japanese

Pro Wrestling Noah (stylised as Pro Wrestling NOAH) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) ace Mitsuharu Misawa after he had led a mass exodus in which 24 of AJPW's 26 contracted wrestlers left the ...

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 Final Battle is a professional wrestling event, held annually by the Ring of Honor promotion. The event was initially held in 2002, and is traditionally ROH's last show in the calendar year. The 2009 edition of the show was ROH's first internet p ...

, 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 Daniel Christopher Covell (born March 24, 1970), better known by the ring name Christopher Daniels, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and is the Head of Talent Relations. He is best kno ...

and Frankie Kazarian) on May 9, 2016, at War of the Worlds. War Machine finished with ROH on December 16, 2017.

Japan (2015–2018)

On September 14, 2015, Rowe and Hanson made their Japanese debuts for

, teaming with

Takashi Sugiura is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Sugiura, an accomplished amateur wrestler, joined Noah's dojo in 2000, making his professional debut on December 23, 2000, and thus becoming the first wrestler ...

in a six-man tag team main event, where they defeated Suzuki-gun (

, Lance Archer and Minoru Suzuki). This led to a match five days later, where War Machine unsuccessfully challenged Smith and Archer for the

. In November 2016, War Machine made their debut for

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares ...

(NJPW) by entering the

2016 World Tag League __NOTOC__ The is a professional wrestling round-robin tag team tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling as a spin-off of the popular singles tournament, the G1 Climax. It was created in 1991 as the Super Grade Tag League, as a continuation of ...

. They finished the tournament on December 7 with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals. On April 9, 2017, at

Sakura Genesis 2017 Sakura Genesis 2017 was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), which took place on April 9, 2017, in Tokyo at Ryōgoku Kokugikan. The event featured nine matches (in addition to one match on the pre-show), main ...

, 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 Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on June 11, 2017, in Osaka, Osaka, at the Osaka-jō Hall and was the ninth event under the Dominion name and third i ...

, 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.

WWE (2018–present)

On January 16, 2018,

announced that Rowe had signed a contract with the company and would be reporting to the

WWE Performance Center The WWE Performance Center is the official professional wrestling school system of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE. The promotion currently operates two Performance Center locations, which serve as training facilities for WWE wre ...

. On the April 11 episode of ''NXT'', he and Hanson, now called the War Raiders, made their television debuts, attacking Heavy Machinery (

Otis Dozovic Nikola Bogojevic (born December 21, 1991) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Otis. After signing with WWE in 2016, he was assigned to their developmental ...

and

Tucker Knight Levi Rolla Cooper (born July 24, 1990) is an American professional wrestler, best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Tucker. After signing with WWE in 2013, he was assigned to their developmental brand NXT, under t ...

) and the team of

Riddick Moss Michael Carter Rallis (born October 10, 1989) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and former college football player. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown brand under ...

and

Tino Sabbatelli Sabatino "Sabby" Piscitelli (born August 24, 1983) is an American former professional wrestler and former American football player. He is known for his time in WWE, under the ring name Tino Sabbatelli. He also worked for All Elite Wrestling (AEW ...

. On the October 17 episode of ''NXT'', they challenged The Undisputed Era ( Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong) for the NXT Tag Team Championship, but won by disqualification after Bobby Fish attacked them with a steel chair; thus, they did not win the titles. The War Raiders would go on to main event NXT TakeOver: WarGames II, teaming with

Ricochet A ricochet ( ; ) is a rebound, bounce, or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. Most ricochets are caused by accident and while the force of the deflection decelerates the projectile, it can still be energetic and almost ...

and Pete Dunne against The Undisputed Era in the WarGames match with The Viking Raiders, Dunne and Ricochet winning the match. At NXT TakeOver: Phoenix, Rowe and Hanson defeated The Undisputed Era to win the NXT Tag Team Championship. They successfully defended their tag team championships at NXT TakeOver: New York against the team of Ricochet and

Aleister Black Tom Budgen (born 19 May 1985) is a Dutch professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Malakai Black. He is also known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Aleister Black from 2017 ...

. After having successful defenses with the NXT Tag Titles, both Rowe and Hanson would relinquish the titles after both men believed no team in ''NXT'' could beat them for the titles. During the Superstar Shakeup event, Rowe and his partner Hanson would debut on Raw and be renamed Ivar and Erik. They also would be repackaged with the new name "The Viking Experience". The following week the team was renamed to The Viking Raiders. On the October 14, 2019, episode of ''

Monday Night Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show fe ...

'' Erik would capture the Raw Tag Team championships alongside his partner

Ivar Ivar (Old Norse ''Ívarr'') is a Scandinavian masculine given name. Another variant of the name is Iver, which is more common in Norway. The Old Norse name has several possible etymologies. In North Germanic phonology, several of the elements c ...

as "The Viking Raiders" by defeating the team of Dolph Ziggler and

Robert Roode Robert Francis Roode Jr. (born May 11, 1976) is a Canadian professional wrestler signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. He is currently inactive due to undergoing neck surgery. Roode is known for his 12-year tenure for Total Nonstop ...

. At

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an As ...

, The Viking Raiders would host an open challenge for the Raw Tag Titles and

The O.C ''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seasons. "O.C." is an initialis ...

would answer the challenge, but the match would end in a

double countout Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. Erik and Ivar would lose the titles to the team of Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy on the January 20, 2020, episode of ''

'' after their reign lasted for 98 days. During the summer, The Viking Raiders would feud with The Street Profits which would lead to a match between the two teams at Backlash At the event, the match had never started because both teams would begin fighting in the parking lot and eventually team up as "the Viking Profits" to take out Akira Towzawa and his Ninja's. On September 7 episode ''Raw'', The Viking Raiders teamed up with Apollo Crews and

in an eight-man tag team match against The Hurt Business in a losing effort, where Cedric Alexander scored the pinfall over Ricochet. The match was forced to an abrupt ending due to Ivar suffering a legitimate cervical injury during the match. On October 7, Erik would announce that he would be out of action after having surgery on his bicep. On the April 13 episode of ''Raw'', Erik along with Ivar, would return and defeat the team of Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin. On the June 7 episode of ''Raw'', The Viking Raiders would win a battle royal to determine to #1 contenders for the Raw Tag Titles. It would be announced that The Viking Raiders would face the Raw Tag Team champions, AJ Styles and Omos at Money In The Bank. At the event, The Viking Raiders would be unsuccessful, as Styles and Omos would retain their titles. On the July 19 episode of ''Raw'', The Viking Raiders, alongside Riddle, would defeat the team of

John Morrison John Morrison or Morison may refer to: In politics * John Morrison (Manitoba politician) (1868–1930), politician in Manitoba, Canada * John Morrison (Saskatchewan politician) (1872–1950), Canadian Member of Parliament * John Morrison (intelli ...

, AJ Styles and Omos. Later that night, it would be announced that The Viking Raiders would face AJ Styles and Omos for the Raw Tag Titles in a rematch on next weeks episode of ''Raw''. On the July 27 episode of ''Raw'', The Viking Raiders would fail to win the Raw Tag Titles, as Styles and Omos retained. As part of the 2021 Draft, both Erik and Ivar were drafted to the

SmackDown brand SmackDown is a WWE brand extension, brand of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE that was established on March 25, 2002. Brands are divisions of WWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis when a brand ex ...

Personal life

Rowe, along with his teammate

Todd Smith Todd Smith may refer to: People * Todd Smith (musician), American singer, songwriter and guitarist * Todd Smith (politician), Canadian politician * Todd Smith (singer), American vocalist and member of Selah * Todd Smith (wrestler), American wrestle ...

, are adherents to the straight edge lifestyle. During his time with WWE, Rowe began dating fellow wrestler Sarah Bridges (then known as Sarah Logan). The pair were married on December 21, 2018, in a Viking themed wedding. On February 9, 2021, Bridges and Rowe welcomed a son named Raymond Cash Rowe.

Championships and accomplishments

**Anarchy Unified Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **World Hardcore Championship (1 time) *Absolute Intense Wrestling **AIW Absolute Championship (1 time) **J.T. Lightning Tournament (2015) **Gauntlet for the Gold (2006 - AIW Absolute Championship) *Brew City Wrestling **BCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Hanson (wrestler), Hanson *Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling **CAPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **CAPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Jason Bane *Firestorm Pro Wrestling **Firestorm Pro Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *International Wrestling Cartel **IWC Heavyweight Championship, IWC World Heavyweight Championship (IWC Heavyweight Championship#Title history, 1 time) **IWC Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with J-Rocc *

** IWGP Tag Team Championship (List of IWGP Tag Team Champions, 2 times) – with Hanson *National Wrestling Alliance, NWA Branded Outlaw Wrestling **NWA BOW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) ** NWA BOW Outlaw Championship (1 time) *National Wrestling Alliance, NWA Lone Star **NWA Lone Star Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **NWA Lone Star Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Jax Dane *National Wrestling Alliance, NWA Wrestling Revolution **NWA Grand Warrior Championship (2 times) *''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' **Ranked 97 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated#PWI 500, PWI 500 in 2016 *Real Action Wrestling **Real Action Wrestling Championship (1 time) *

** ROH World Tag Team Championship (List of ROH World Tag Team Champions, 1 time) – with Hanson *River City Wrestling **RCW Championship (1 time) *VIP Wrestling **VIP Heavyweight Championship (2 times) **VIP Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Hanson *What Culture Pro Wrestling **WCPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Hanson *

**WWE 24/7 Championship (List of WWE 24/7 Champions, 1 time) ** NXT Tag Team Championship (List of NXT Tag Team Champions, 1 time) – with Hanson **WWE Raw Tag Team Championship (List of WWE Raw Tag Team Champions, 1 time) – with Hanson (wrestler), Ivar

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Erik (wrestler) 1984 births American male professional wrestlers Living people Sportspeople from Cleveland Professional wrestlers from Ohio WWE 24/7 Champions NXT Tag Team Champions 21st-century professional wrestlers ROH World Tag Team Champions IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions