The Viking Raiders

On January 16, 2018, Erik and Ivar, as Hanson and Rowe, signed a contract with WWE and reported to the WWE Performance Center.

During a television taping before NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, Rowe and Hanson debuted as faces, under the name **War Raiders**, interfering in a match between Heavy Machinery (Tucker Knight and Otis Dozovic) and Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss, causing it to end in a no contest. Over the following weeks, they started a winning streak, defeating *NXT* teams such as The Mighty and Heavy Machinery. 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. War Raiders would go on to main event NXT TakeOver: WarGames II, teaming with Ricochet and Pete Dunne against The Undisputed Era in the WarGames 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.

On April 15, 2019, they debuted on *Raw* as **The Viking Experience**, with Rowe and Hanson now called Erik and Ivar. They teamed with The Revival to defeat the team of Aleister Black, Ricochet, Curt Hawkins, and Zack Ryder. The next week, the team was renamed **The Viking Raiders** while their finisher was renamed to *The Viking Experience*. They relinquished the NXT Tag Team Championships at the May 1 *NXT* television tapings (aired May 15). After relinquishing the championships, however, The Viking Raiders were challenged to one final *NXT* match for the titles by Street Profits. The match, however, ended in a disqualification after The Forgotten Sons attacked Ivar, followed by an ensuing brawl between the teams.

On the September 9, 2019 episode of *Raw*, The Viking Raiders saved Cedric Alexander from The O.C.. On the October 14 episode of *Raw*, Erik and Ivar captured the Raw Tag Team Championship from Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler. However, they suffered their first loss as a team in WWE at Crown Jewel in a tag team turmoil match for the WWE Tag Team World Cup, ultimately losing the last match against The O.C.. At Survivor Series, they defeated The New Day and The Undisputed Era in a champions triple threat tag team match, scoring *Raw*'s only victory at the event, which was ultimately won by *NXT*. On the January 20 episode of *Raw*, they lost the titles to Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy, ending their reign at 98 days. On the May 4 episode of *Raw*, The Viking Raiders defeated The Street Profits in a non-title match. In the following weeks, The Viking Raiders would feud with The Street Profits as they faced each other in several competitions such as basketball, axe-throwing, golf, bowling, and a decathlon which was later dubbed as the "Anything You Can Do, We Can Do Better" series. A running gag in these segments would see the women involved in the competitions flirting with Ivar and ignoring Erik much to Erik's disgust. The series would end with a 3–3 tie between the Street Profits and The Viking Raiders. This led to a match scheduled between the two teams for the Raw Tag Team Titles at Backlash. However, the match never began as The Street Profits and The Viking Raiders brawled backstage which also saw them work together to fend off Akira Tozawa and a gang of ninjas on motorcycles. The Street Profits and The Viking Raiders continued brawling afterwards until they fell into a dumpster. On the June 22 episode of *Raw*, The Viking Raiders finally received their Raw Tag Team Title match against The Street Profits, where they were defeated.

On September 7, 2020, on *Raw*, The Hurt Business defeated Apollo Crews, Ricochet, and the Raiders in an eight-man tag team match, with Alexander scoring the pinfall over Ricochet and the match being forced to an abrupt ending due to Ivar suffering a legitimate cervical injury during the match. On September 14, Ivar underwent successful surgery to repair a neck injury thus rendering him out of action and putting the team on hiatus.

After a seven month absence, The Viking Raiders returned on the April 12, 2021 episode of *Raw* defeating Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin. On the June 7 episode of *Raw*, The Viking Raiders would win a battle royal to determine to number one contenders for the Raw Tag Team Championships. 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 fail to capture the titles, as Styles and Omos retained.

As part of the 2021 Draft, The Viking Raiders were drafted to the *SmackDown* brand. On February 19, 2022, at Elimination Chamber, they were attacked by The Usos before their match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship, but on the March 4 episode of *SmackDown*, they unsuccessfully challenged the Usos for the titles. On the June 24 episode of *SmackDown*, the Viking Raiders would return with new gear and face paint, and would violently attack The New Day and Shanky, thus turning heel.