Squash matches are great and all, but have you seen what The Viking Raiders were capable of doing in WWE NXT? That’s exactly what the main roster is missing out on right now.
At any given point in time, there’s practically always going to be something you could criticize WWE for. No matter how good some of the main storylines seem to be going, that’s just the name of the game, especially when you’re employing so many gifted individuals.
For instance, take the recent King of the Ring tournament as an example. There’s no doubt in my mind that the tournament was a master stroke of booking, one that gave much needed opportunities to loads of talented stars.
At the same time however, WWE is still struggling to find those same opportunities for some of NXT’s finest. Aleister Black has been reduced to infrequent in-ring appearances, Heavy Machinery seems to have been basically forgotten, and The Viking Raiders are stuck in a holding pattern.
While both Black and Heavy Machinery undoubtedly represent largely untapped potential for WWE, and therefore have their situations addressed sooner rather than later, it’s that handling of The Viking Raiders that puzzles me the most.
It seems as though WWE is fully aware of the potential Erik and Ivar have on the main roster, in spite of their terrible packaging at times I might add. They’ve been consistently presented on TV, and have even gotten little backstage clips to hype up their appearances.
Nevertheless, their push seems to have come to a screeching halt lately. They haven’t received anything more than squash matches, mostly against local competitors, while thrown together tag teams are winning titles and championship opportunities left and right.
Now, I could understand that phenomenon if it seemed like The Viking Raiders were green in the ring. It’s just that we all know that’s not the case.
Back when they were the War Raiders and were infinitely better presented, Erik and Ivar put on some classics in NXT. There’s been nothing that would suggest they couldn’t do the same on the main roster either.
Nonetheless, here we are heading into a pay-per-view featuring a tag team championship match between two teams who haven’t even spent a month together.
Sure, I get that part of the reason for that might be to protect an upstart duo like The Viking Raiders, but it’s still a travesty regardless. Even in a losing effort, Erik and Ivar would have made a huge impact by simply being in a competitive, back-and-forth match with two of the top stars in the entire company.
Believe it or not, that doesn’t mean all hope is lost for The Viking Raiders to make an impact at Clash of Champions though. WWE planted the seeds for a potential showdown between The Viking Raiders and Gallows and Anderson of The O.C. during the tag team gauntlet match that led us to our unconventional championship bout at Clash of Champions.
You could likely argue that such a bout between two of the hardest-hitting tandems in the company should be saved for the spotlight a title match provides, and you would likely be right, but it’s still an opportunity the WWE can’t waste going into their next pay-per-view.
Despite the fact that WWE missed an easy opportunity to have The O.C. attack The Viking Raiders on Raw, especially after they laid out Cedric Alexander earlier in the show, there’s still enough of a story already built here to justify a match.
That match could then give The Viking Raiders a much needed chance to show more casual fans what they’ve been missing while WWE has largely hung them out to dry in time-wasting segments each week, hopefully restoring their push to the top of the tag division in the process.
With that being said, there’s not much time to waste. WWE needs to finalize a match between The Viking Raiders and The O.C. as soon as possible in order to ensure that another show’s worth of opportunities for Erik and Ivar aren’t wasted once again.