Erik

Raymond Rowe, better known in WWE as Erik, is a tough American tag team specialist whose career has taken him through U.S. independent promotions, Ring of Honor (ROH), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and WWE’s main roster. Rowe trained in Ohio and debuted in 2003, building his reputation across promotions like AIW, IWC, CAPW, VIP Wrestling, and NWA affiliates, holding heavyweight and tag team titles as a rugged brawler.

His major breakthrough came in Ring of Honor (ROH), where he formed War Machine with Hanson (later Ivar), an in-your-face tag team who emphasized stiff strikes, suplexes, and tandem powerbombs. They won the ROH World Tag Team Championship in 2015, then moved to NJPW in Japan, where they won the IWGP Tag Team Championship twice in 2017, earning a reputation as a world-traveled powerhouse team.

The two were then signed by WWE in 2018 and debuted in NXT as the War Raiders. They quickly won the NXT Tag Team Championship with dominant performances and high-impact double-team offense.

After moving to Raw and being rebranded first as The Viking Experience and then The Viking Raiders, Rowe took the name Erik while Smith became Ivar. Together, they won the Raw Tag Team Championship and later the World Tag Team Championship on the main roster.

Erik’s career has faced some setbacks, including a motorcycle accident during his ROH tenure and neck fusion surgery in 2023 that kept him out for a year, but he has continuously bounced back.

His 2024 comeback with Ivar under the revived War Raiders name and his subsequent WWE World Tag Team Titles win on Raw highlighted his resilience and lasting value as one of WWE’s top modern big men in tag teams.