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 talk page.(April 2019)
Erik
Erik in 2015
Birth name
Raymond Rowe
Born
(1984-08-21) August 21, 1984 (age40) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
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] After a year-long hiatus Erik returned from injury alongside Ivar In October 2024, cryptic messages began airing on Raw featuring Nordic characters that translate to "WAR" to promote the team's return. On the October 14th episode of RAW, Ivar and Erik returned defeating Alpha Academy reverting back to their War Raiders name and gimmick. Two weeks later they defeated the LWO and The New Day in a Triple Threat Tag Team match to become No'1 Contenders to the World Tag Team Championships held by The Judgment Day's Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh. On the November 25 episode of Raw, they failed to win the titles from Bálor and McDonagh after interference from Dominik Mysterio and Carlito.[36] On the December 16 episode of Raw, The War Raiders defeated Bálor and McDonagh to become two-time Word Tag Team Champions.[37]
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.[39] On February 9, 2021, Bridges and Rowe welcomed a son named Raymond Cash Rowe.[40][41] On April 26, 2024, Rowe announced his wife's second pregnancy.[42] On November 28, 2024, Bridges and Rowe welcomed a second son.
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