Raymond Rowe

Raymond Rowe (born August 21, 1984) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Erik, as one half of the tag team The Viking Raiders. He is best known for his work in Ring of Honor, where he and his tag team partner Hanson (collectively known as War Machine in ROH) are former IWGP Tag Team Champions and ROH World Tag Team Champions.

This article is about the professional wrestler. For the American football player, see Ray Rowe (American football). For the Australian cricketer, see Raymond Rowe (cricketer).

Raymond Rowe
Rowe in January 2017
Born (1984-08-21) August 21, 1984
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
ResidenceHouston, Texas, United States
Spouse(s)
Sarah Logan (m. 2018)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Erik
Raymond Right[1]
Ray Rowe[1]
Raymond Rowe[1]
Rowe [1]
Billed height6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[2][3]
Billed weight247 lb (112 kg)[2][3]
Billed fromCleveland, Ohio
Trained byJosh Prohibition
Lou Marconi[4]
WWE Performance Center[5]
DebutMay 2003[4]

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2003–2013)

Rowe was trained by Josh Prohibition and Lou Marconi. He debuted on the independent circuit in May 2003.

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 team War 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 the promotion's 13th Anniversary Show by assisting his partner Hanson after the World Championship main event.[7] On August 22, War Machine defeated Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) in a non-title match and afterwards challenged them to a match for their GHC Tag Team Championship, a title owned by the Japanese Pro 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 at Final Battle, War Machine defeated The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett) to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship.[10] They lost the title to The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) on May 9, 2016, at War of the Worlds.[11] War Machine finished with ROH on December 16, 2017.[12]

Japan (2015–2018)
War Machine in January 2017

On September 14, 2015, Rowe and Hanson made their Japanese debuts for Pro Wrestling Noah, teaming with Takashi Sugiura in a six-man tag team main event, where they defeated Suzuki-gun (Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer and Minoru Suzuki).[13] This led to a match five days later, where War Machine unsuccessfully challenged Smith and Archer for the GHC Tag Team Championship.[14]

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]

On April 9, 2017, at Sakura Genesis 2017, War Machine defeated Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.[17] They lost the title to Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) on June 11 at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall,[18] regaining it in a no disqualification match on July 1 at G1 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 at Destruction in Kobe.[20]

WWE (2018–present)

On January 16, 2018, WWE announced that Rowe had signed a contract with the company and would be reporting to the WWE Performance Center.[5] On the April 11, 2018, episode of NXT, he and Hanson, now called the War Raiders, made their television debuts, attacking Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight) and the team of Riddick Moss and Tino Sabbatelli. The War Raiders faced The Undisputed Era at NXT Takeover: Phoenix on January 26, 2019 where they won the NXT Tag Team Championships.

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 by defeating the team of Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. He and Ivar would then drop 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.

Personal life

Rowe, along with his teammate Todd Smith, are adherents to the straight edge lifestyle.[21] On December 21, 2018, Rowe married fellow wrestler Sarah Logan.[22]

Championships and accomplishments
Rowe (right) and Hanson as the IWGP Tag Team Champions
Rowe and Hanson as NXT Tag Team Champions

References
  1. "OWW profile". Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  2. "Rowe". WWE.
  3. "Raymond Rowe". NJPW.
  4. "Erik « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  5. "WWE Performance-Center signs War Machine". WWE. January 16, 2018. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  6. "ROH STAR INJURED IN MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT | PWInsider.com". www.pwinsider.com. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  7. "COMPLETE ROH 13TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW REPORT: JAY BRISCOE DEFENDS THE TITLE AGAINST THREE TOP CHALLENGERS, SAMOA JOE COMES HOME, ALBERTO EL PATRON GETS HIS SHOT AT THE TV TITLE, THE BUCKS AND REDRAGON RENEW THEIR FEUD, AND MUCH MORE | PWInsider.com". www.pwinsider.com. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  8. "Ring of Honor tag team heading to Pro Wrestling Noah". August 26, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  9. "Great Voyage 2015 in Osaka". Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  10. Meltzer, Dave (December 18, 2015). "ROH Final Battle 2015 live results: Jay Lethal vs. AJ Styles, Roderick Strong vs. Bobby Fish". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  11. Johnson, Mike (May 9, 2016). "Bullet Club reigns supreme: ROH War of the Worlds tour coverage from Dearborn, Michigan". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  12. Johnson, Mike (December 19, 2017). "Three new signings expected in new year". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
  13. Shiny Navig.2015～第9回日テレG+杯争奪ジュニア・ヘビー級タッグリーグ戦～. Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  14. "Great Voyage 2015 in Osaka". Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  15. 『World Tag』“初出場”外国人チーム決定!! ROHから“凶獣”ウォー・マシンが参戦！WLWからブライアン・ブレーカー＆リーランド・レイスもエントリー！【WT16】. New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). November 4, 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  16. 戦国炎舞 -Kizna- Presents World Tag League 2016. New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  17. Rose, Bryan (April 8, 2017). "NJPW Sakura Genesis live results: Okada vs. Shibata". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
  18. Rose, Bryan (June 10, 2017). "NJPW Dominion live results: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  19. Witner, Arya (July 1, 2017). "NJPW G1 Special live results: Kazuchika Okada vs. Cody". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  20. Rose, Bryan (September 23, 2017). "NJPW Destruction in Kobe live results: Kenny Omega vs. Juice Robinson". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
  21. Moorehouse, John (July 29, 2017). "EXCLUSIVE: Thrown Together, War Machine Reach Championship Success". Fightful.com. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  22. Satin, Ryan (October 27, 2017). "NXT Wrestler Sarah Logan And Raymond Rowe From War Machine Got Engaged (Photos)". Pro Wrestling Sheet. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  23. Kreikenbohm, Philip. "ACW Unified Championship « Titles Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
  24. "Show results – 12/17/06 AIW in Cleveland, Ohio". AIW.
  25. "Show results – 5/23 AIW J.T. Lightning Tournament Night 2 in Cleveland, Ohio: Samoa Joe wrestles post-NXT debut, Ray Rowe wins, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. May 24, 2015. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  26. "Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling". onlineworldofwrestling.com.
  27. "Solie's Title Histories: IWC - INTERNATIONAL WRESTLING CARTEL". www.solie.org. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  28. "Wrestlingdata.com - The World's Largest Wrestling Database". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  29. "HAAS BACK IN THE RING, HEADLOCKED UPDATE, LES THATCHER, SUNNY, NECW ANNIVERSARY NEXT WEEK AND MORE NEWS - PWInsider.com". www.pwinsider.com.
  30. "Lone Star Tag Team Championship « Titles Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  31. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2016". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  32. Kreikenbohm, Philip. "VIP Heavyweight Championship « Titles Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net.
  33. Kreikenbohm, Philip. "VIP Limitless « Events Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net.
  34. "WCPW Tag Team Championship". What Culture Pro Wrestling. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  35. "NXT Tag Team Championship". WWE. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  36. "Raw Tag Team Championship". WWE. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
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