You Won't Believe What WWE Were Originally Going To Call The Viking Experience
What was wrong with "War Raiders" anyway?
WWE sparked controversy when they called their current NXT Tag Teams up to the main roster as part of this week's Superstar Shake-Up, not as their established War Raiders monicker, but as Erik and Ivar - The Viking Experience.
Mockery ensued, and rightly so. It's one of the cheesiest titles Vince McMahon and co. have come up with in a long time. The performers are skilled enough to overcome it eventually, and will do so through blitzkrieg in-ring performances. For now, though, they're a joke.
Per a new write-up from PWInsider, WWE originally planned on calling the former Hanson and Rowe up as "The Berzerkers." A fitting name, and significantly less goofy than the one they eventually went with, but it's noted that the company changed their mind as they came closer to debuting.
Perhaps they were concerned about fans confusing Erik and Ivar with Tom Nord, who played The Berzerker in WWE from 1991-93, or perhaps it was just another swing and a miss from Vince's infamous subtlety hammer.
In this week's Observer, Dave Meltzer writes that the Chairman just didn't like "The Berzerkers," calling it "change for the sake of change." It's hard to argue with this take.