By the time the team would join the Raw roster, however, Rowe and Hanson were rechristened as 'Erik' and 'Ivar' and the team was given the name 'the Viking Experience,' which was immediately panned by fans and critics alike. Having enjoyed success both in Ring of Honor and New Japan, the burly, bearded men debuted on NXT with largely unchanged gimmicks, with the team now going by the name 'War Raiders'.

There was a lot of hype around the tag team of War Machine - known at the time as Raymond Rowe and Hanson, respectively - when rumors of their impending move to WWE began swirling in late 2017.

RELATED: 5 Great Steve Austin Moments In WCW (& 5 From ECW) 10 In some other cases, though, it's easy to see why the wrestler thought a change was needed before debuting on such a grand stage. Some were quite popular, however, WWE often prefers to own their performers' intellectual property when possible - it's why the 'American Dragon' Bryan Danielson became Daniel Bryan when he first arrived in NXT. After all, before Terry Bollea was the 'Hulkster,' he was Sterling Golden and before Steve Austin was 'Stone Cold,' he was 'Stunning.'Įach of the following current WWE wrestlers has tried different gimmicks before becoming a WWE Superstar. Sometimes, it takes a wrestler a round or two (or several.) of 'trial and error' before they find the gimmick that works for them. Successful gimmicks can range from the simple - a wrestler's real-life personality 'turned up a few notches,' as the cliche goes - to the outlandish. Gimmicks are one of the most fundamental parts of wrestling.

Real name no gimmicks