Ivar makes sure he wrestles every match like it’s his last.
Since one-half of The Viking Raiders, Erik, has been sidelined after undergoing C6/C7 neck fusion surgery, Ivar and Valhalla have continued on as an on-screen act in WWE.
Ivar has consistently wrestled in singles matches and on the 4/5 SmackDown, he was in the final two of the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He joined Busted Open and talked about wrestling every match like it could be his last. He mentioned that he does not know how much longer he has left and recalled his broken neck injury from 2020.
The energy is so crazy and it’s so different than it was a few years ago with the change of management too, so the whole atmosphere is just completely different and it just feels special at all times and it can be overwhelming and emotional to have a journey that I’ve had and be here now and not know how much longer I have left, especially with my neck injury a few years ago. So, it’s just every time I go out there, I’m wrestling like it might be my last.
In 2020, The Viking Raiders’ presentation shifted when they traveled down a comedic route. He feels that time wasn’t structured to make them look good, but they make sure to be versatile for scenarios as such.
I mean, I think with the amount of experience that we (Viking Raiders) had coming here and just knowing what the WWE is, we expected some version of that, some change that we had to make. So we were prepared for that and we feel like we’re versatile and we can change up our wrestling styles, we can change up our appearance, we can change up how we act. I think a good example of that is when we had to do the whole feud with The Street Profits, during COVID. We went full comedy. No one ever saw us like that but we were able to do it and I don’t think that was structured to make us look good, but we came out of it looking great. So, I think that’s what a lot of WWE is-is being versatile and being able to adapt to situations that you’re put into and that’s what we do. Any time we’re put into a situation, we go for the home run. Doesn’t matter how negative people might see that it is, that’s not our job. Our job is to take what we get and make it beautiful and that’s what we do.
Elsewhere in the conversation, Ivar stated that he’s been receiving constant support from Erik and Valhalla during his singles run.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Busted Open with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
