This article is missing information about his career from April 2018 to January 2019. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the
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Erik
Erik in 2017
Birth name
Raymond Rowe
Born
(1984-08-21) August 21, 1984 (age 39) Cleveland,
Ohio, U.S.
Raymond Rowe Sr. (born August 21, 1984) is an American
professional wrestler. He is currently signed to
WWE, where he performs on the
Rawbrand under the
ring nameErik. He is currently out of action due to a neck injury. He performs in a tag team with
Todd Smith (best known as Ivar) called
The Viking Raiders, managed by his real-life wife, who performs as
Valhalla. Rowe is best known for his work in
Ring of Honor (ROH), where he and Smith (formerly Hanson), then known as War Machine are former
ROH World Tag Team Champions and made appearances for
New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), where they are former two time
IWGP Tag Team Champions, as well as having won tag team championships in various
independent promotions across the USA and England.
On June 9, 2006, episode of
Smackdown!, Rowe competed against
Mark Henry in a losing effort.
Ring of Honor (2013–2017)
Rowe made his
Ring of Honor 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
Hanson. Despite this, Rowe began regularly performing for ROH following the tournament in addition to forming the
tag teamWar Machine with Hanson on April 4, 2014.
In November 2016, War Machine made their debut for
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) by entering the
2016 World Tag League.[15] They finished the tournament on December 7 with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals.[16]
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 Erik would capture the Raw Tag Team championships alongside his partner
Ivar as "The Viking Raiders" by defeating the team of
Dolph Ziggler and
Robert Roode. At
TLC, The Viking Raiders would host an open challenge for the Raw Tag Titles and
The O.C would answer the challenge, but the match would end in a
double countout. Erik and Ivar would lose the titles to the team of
Seth Rollins and
Buddy Murphy on the January 20, 2020, episode of Monday Night Raw 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 Tozawa and his Ninja's.[22] On September 7 episode Raw, The Viking Raiders teamed up with
Apollo Crews and
Ricochet 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.[23][24] On October 7, Erik would announce that he would be out of action after having surgery on his bicep.[25]
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.[26][27] At the event, The Viking Raiders would be unsuccessful, as Styles and Omos would retain their titles.[28] On the July 19 episode of Raw, The Viking Raiders, alongside
Riddle, would defeat the team of
John Morrison, 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.[29] On the July 27 episode of Raw, The Viking Raiders would fail to win the Raw Tag Titles, as Styles and Omos retained.[30]
As part of the
2021 Draft, both Erik and Ivar were drafted to the
SmackDown brand.[31][32] As part of the
2023 WWE Draft, both Erik and Ivar were drafted to the
Rawbrand.[33] In October 2023, it was announced that Erik was injured and would not be appearing for the foreseeable future.[34] On November 2, 2023, Erik announced on
Instagram that he had undergone successful neck fusion surgery.[35]
During his time with WWE, Rowe began dating fellow wrestler Sarah Bridges (then known as
Sarah Logan and later Valhalla). The pair were married on December 21, 2018, in a Viking themed wedding.[37] On February 9, 2021, Bridges and Rowe welcomed a son named Raymond Cash Rowe.[38][39]