Erik & Ivar Return To WWE Raw As The War Raiders, Win First Round Tag Tournament Match

The War Raiders' Erik and Ivar made their triumphant return from injuries on "WWE Raw" on Monday, defeating Alpha Academy's Otis and Akira Tozawa to advance in the recently-announced tournament for the World Tag Team Championships. "Raw" General Manager Adam Pearce had just announced the tournament to champions JD McDonagh and Finn Balor earlier in the night, and the returning War Raiders (previously known as the Viking Raiders) won the first match of the tournament, their first win together since September 2023. Their return had been alluded to in video teasers featuring the runic alphabet in weeks prior.

Otis and Ivar started off the match before Tozawa was tagged in. Erik slammed Ivar on top of Tozawa and the returning team took control of the match. Erik and Ivar took turns sending the smaller man into one another's knees. Otis attempted to turn the match back around, but Ivar interrupted his caterpillar attempt. Tozawa tried to hit a missile drop kick, but was caught by Ivar. The War Raiders hit their new finishing move on Tozawa, with Erik throwing his opponent into the line of fire of Ivar's splash from the top rope, for the victory. The bracket for the tag team tournament had not yet been revealed as of this writing, but the War Raiders are moving on for a shot at the World Tag Team Championships.