40-year-old WWE RAW star reflects on sharing an emotional moment with Shawn Michaels after title win
WWE RAW Superstar Ivar recently disclosed that Shawn Michaels embraced him and Erik after they won the NXT Tag Team Championship. This was after they defeated The Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong) at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix in 2019.
Erik and Ivar were known as the War Raiders during their time in the white and gold brand. They also had different names, as Ivar was Hanson while Erik was called Rowe. After they arrived on the main roster, the duo was briefly known as The Viking Experience, but WWE changed it to The Viking Raiders after a ton of backlash from fans.
While speaking to Chris Van Vliet in a recent interview, Ivar reflected on the time when WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels embraced him and Erik after they won the NXT Tag Team Championship. He stated that it was a special moment for them.
"When we went to NXT, like, it's mind blowing to think about. The night that we won the NXT Tag Championships, so TakeOver: Phoenix, us vs. Undisputed Era and we win the titles and we were going back to the locker room. And before we get through the curtain, Shawn came out halfway onto the stage to greet us and hug us and like, man, (laughs). What a moment, what a moment for us," Ivar said. [9:19 - 9:51]
You can watch the interview below:
What the future has in store for the 40-year-old star remains to be seen.
WWE star Noam Dar credits Shawn Michaels for his success
Shawn Michaels is the Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative at WWE and is responsible for running NXT. He works with a lot of young stars on the white and gold brand, including Noam Dar, who is a former NXT Heritage Cup Champion.
While speaking to Kenny McIntosh of Inside the Ropes, the 30-year-old star praised The Heartbreak Kid and credited him for his success.
“Shawn has been extremely instrumental and impactful to my career and my whole trajectory within WWE, but again, specifically in NXT. He and I really connected around 2019 once I started doing a lot more of the UK stuff. From there, he’s helped me add a lot of texture, a lot of wrinkles and a lot of detail to my game. For me personally, he’s showing me parts of myself that maybe I don’t know were there or showing me how to get certain things out of me and to not perceive myself in a certain box or a certain bracket," Noam Dar said.
Noam Dar and his faction, The Meta-Four, are currently involved in a feud with Trick Williams. It will be interesting to see whether Noam will be the one to dethrone Whoop That Trick to become the new NXT Champion.
If you use the quotes from the first half of this article, please credit Chris Van Vliet and add an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.