 | This articleis missing information about his career from April 2018 to January 2019. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(April 2019) |
.jpg) Erik in 2015 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Raymond Rowe (1984-08-21)August 21, 1984 (age 41) |
Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Erik Raymond Right[1] Ray Rowe[1] Raymond Rowe[1] Rowe[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[2][3] |
| Billed weight | 247 lb (112 kg)[2][3] |
| Billed from | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Trained by | Josh Prohibition Lou Marconi[4] WWE Performance Center[5] |
| Debut | May 2003[4] |
Raymond Rowe (born August 21, 1984) is an Americanprofessional wrestler. As of January 2018, he is signed toWWE, where he performs on theRawbrand under thering nameErik. He is in a tag team withIvar calledThe War Raiders. He is a former two-timeWorld Tag Team Champion with Ivar and are former one-timeNXT Tag Team Champion.
Rowe is best known for his work inRing of Honor (ROH), where he and Smith (formerly Hanson), then known as War Machine are formerROH World Tag Team Champions and made appearances forNew Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), where they are former two timeIWGP Tag Team Champions, as well as having won tag team championships in variousindependent promotions in the U.S. and UK.
Rowe was trained by Josh Prohibition andLou Marconi. He debuted on theindependent circuit in May 2003.
On June 9, 2006, episode ofSmackdown!, Rowe competed againstMark Henry in a losing effort.
Rowe made hisRing of Honor debut on June 1, 2013 in a losing effort againstBobby Fish. Following this, he returned to ROH on January 4, 2014, as part ofthat 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 toHanson. Despite this, Rowe began regularly performing for ROH following the tournament in addition to forming thetag teamWar Machine with Hanson on April 4, 2014.
In August, Rowe was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident and was out of action for several months.[6] On March 1, 2015, Rowe made his return to ROH at thepromotion's 13th Anniversary Show by assisting his partner Hanson after theWorld Championship main event.[7] On August 22, War Machine defeatedKiller Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. andLance Archer) in a non-title match and afterwards challenged them to a match for theirGHC Tag Team Championship, a title owned by the JapanesePro Wrestling Noah promotion.[8] War Machine received their title shot in Japan on September 19, but were defeated by the Killer Elite Squad.[9] On December 18 atFinal Battle, War Machine defeatedThe Kingdom (Matt Taven andMichael Bennett) to win theROH World Tag Team Championship.[10] They lost the title toThe Addiction (Christopher Daniels andFrankie Kazarian) on May 9, 2016, atWar of the Worlds.[11] War Machine finished with ROH on December 16, 2017.[12]
On September 14, 2015, Rowe and Hanson made their Japanese debuts forPro Wrestling Noah, teaming withTakashi Sugiura in a six-man tag team main event, where they defeatedSuzuki-gun (Davey Boy Smith Jr.,Lance Archer andMinoru Suzuki).[13] This led to a match five days later, where War Machine unsuccessfully challenged Smith and Archer for theGHC Tag Team Championship.[14]
In November 2016, War Machine made their debut forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) by entering the2016 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]
On April 9, 2017, atSakura Genesis 2017, War Machine defeatedTencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan andSatoshi Kojima) to win theIWGP Tag Team Championship.[17] They lost the title toGuerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga andTanga Loa) on June 11 atDominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall,[18] regaining it in ano disqualification match on July 1 atG1 Special in USA.[19] They lost the title to Killer Elite Squad in a three-way match, also involving Guerrillas of Destiny, on September 24 atDestruction in Kobe.[20]
On January 16, 2018,WWE announced that Rowe had signed a contract with the company and would be reporting to theWWE Performance Center.[5] On the April 11 episode ofNXT, he and Hanson, now called theWar Raiders, made their television debuts, attacking Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic andTucker Knight) and the team ofRiddick Moss andTino Sabbatelli. On the October 17 episode ofNXT, they challengedThe Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reilly andRoderick Strong) for theNXT Tag Team Championship, but won by disqualification afterBobby Fish attacked them with a steel chair; thus, they did not win the titles.[21] The War Raiders would go on to main eventNXT TakeOver: WarGames II, teaming withRicochet andPete Dunne againstThe Undisputed Era in theWarGames match with The War Raiders, Dunne and Ricochet winning the match. AtNXT TakeOver: Phoenix, Rowe and Hanson defeated The Undisputed Era to win theNXT Tag Team Championship. They successfully defended their tag team championships atNXT TakeOver: New York against the team of Ricochet andAleister Black. After having successful defenses with the NXT Tag Titles, both Rowe and Hanson would relinquish the titles after both men believed no team inNXT could beat them for the titles.
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 ofMonday Night Raw Erik would capture the Raw Tag Team championships alongside his partnerIvar as "The Viking Raiders" by defeating the team ofDolph Ziggler andRobert Roode. AtTLC, The Viking Raiders would host an open challenge for the Raw Tag Titles andThe O.C would answer the challenge, but the match would end in adouble countout. Erik and Ivar would lose the titles to the team ofSeth Rollins andBuddy Murphy on the January 20, 2020, episode ofMonday Night Raw after their reign lasted for 98 days. During the summer, The Viking Raiders would feud with theStreet Profits which would lead to a match between the two teams atBacklash 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 outAkira Tozawa and his Ninja's.[22] On September 7 episodeRaw, The Viking Raiders teamed up withApollo Crews andRicochet in an eight-man tag team match againstThe Hurt Business in a losing effort, whereCedric 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 ofRaw, Erik along with Ivar, would return and defeat the team ofCedric Alexander andShelton Benjamin. On the June 7 episode ofRaw, 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 andOmos atMoney 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 ofRaw, The Viking Raiders, alongsideRiddle, would defeat the team ofJohn 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 arematch on next weeks episode ofRaw.[29] On the July 27 episode ofRaw, The Viking Raiders would fail to win the Raw Tag Titles, as Styles and Omos retained.[30]
As part of the2021 Draft, both Erik and Ivar were drafted to theSmackDown brand.[31][32] As part of the2023 WWE Draft, both Erik and Ivar were drafted to theRawbrand.[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 onInstagram 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 onRaw featuring Nordic characters that translate to "WAR" to promote the team's return. On the October 14th episode of RAW, Ivar and Erik returned defeatingAlpha Academy reverting back to theirWar Raiders name and gimmick. Two weeks later they defeated theLWO andThe New Day in a Triple Threat Tag Team match to become No'1 Contenders to theWorld Tag Team Championships held byThe Judgment Day'sFinn Bálor andJD McDonagh. On the November 25 episode of Raw, they failed to win the titles from Bálor and McDonagh after interference fromDominik Mysterio andCarlito.[36] On the December 16 episode ofRaw, The War Raiders defeated Bálor and McDonagh to become two-time Word Tag Team Champions.[37]
Rowe, along with his teammateTodd Smith, are adherents to thestraight edge lifestyle.[38]
During his time with WWE, Rowe began dating fellow wrestler Sarah Bridges (then known asSarah 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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