On a recent episode of the popular podcast ‘Insight’, Ivar, a skilled wrestler from WWE’s The Viking Raiders, shared some details about the inception of his tag team with his partner Erik as well as the interesting backstory behind their unique ring names in WWE.
Ivar narrated, “Vince [McMahon] didn’t have a preference in who took what name, so we decided to discuss this with him in advance. I remember telling Ray (Erik), ‘Ray, I can’t adopt my brother’s name for the future because Erik is my brother’s name, spelled exactly the same way as E-R-I-K, so I begged him to let me be Ivar and he agreed, making him Erik.’”
In a separate conversation on Witty Whittier, the ex-WWE NXT Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton also expressed her thoughts on why she connects so deeply with her fans. The sheer authenticity that she brings to her character seemed to be her formula.
“I’m still trying to understand this entirely myself,” Stratton confessed. “I believe it could be because every time I’m out there, I present and amplify the real version of me. I think the audience picks up on that authenticity. It doesn’t feel like I’m pretending or crafting a different persona. Hence, I think that’s why people resonate with my character or, they buy the persona I project. They believe it because it’s genuinely me.”