The Superstar Shake-Up had many newsworthy events. Roman Reigns and Finn Balor heading to Smackdown LIVE. The Usos and Andrade heading to RAW. However, the talk of the week was the rebranding of Raymond Rowe and Hanson. The current NXT Tag Team Champions made their debut as part of an eight-man tag team match. However, they weren’t announced as the War Raiders. That’s a name that WWE had branded and built for the team since their arrival in NXT. No, the War Raiders are now Ivar and Erik: The Viking Experience. Woof.

According to a report from PWInsider.com, this was almost not the case. The newest members of the RAW tag team division would have gone by “The Bezerkers”. The WWE canned this idea at the last minute, and the horribly named Viking Experience was born.

War Raiders

War Raiders, Rebranded

We are all aware of how this writer feels about the name the current NXT Tag Team Champions were given. That being said, The Bezerkers is a much better name than The Viking Experience. Sure, The Bezerkers would have been an obvious nod to a poor Bruiser Brody tribute act. But the name would have been two million times better than what we have. It just sounds cooler. Bezerkers. It’s even a fun word to say.

Possibly WWE didn’t want anyone googling that name. Because, in that case, they would have seen records of John Nord, the original Berzerker, being arrested recently for multiple traffic violations. Or possibly Vince McMahon just liked the sound of announcers saying “experience the Viking Experience” over and over again. We may never know. All we know is that the War Raiders are now the Viking Experience.

How do you feel about the War Raiders being rebranded, and the choice of name? Would you have enjoyed The Bezerkers more than The Viking Experience? Let us know in the comments!