Ivar Praises WWE Superstar For Being 'Unselfish'

Before being sidelined with an injury, WWE superstar and one-half of the Viking Raiders, Ivar, was having a breakout year as a singles wrestler in 2023. 

Ivar recalled what it was like transitioning to a singles star on "Insight with Chris Van Vliet," and praised former WWE Champion Kofi Kingston for being altruistic and kind toward him when he was unsure of his future. 

"Kofi just being unselfish and being the great human being he is and just ... he just won a world champion(ship), he doesn't have to do good things for me and he does, he does for everybody. That's Kofi."

Ivar revealed that The Viking Raiders and The New Day were scheduled to have a two-out-of-three falls match, but due to Erik's injury, the match was replaced with Ivar vs. Kofi at the same allotted time, which was the start of Ivar's singles run. Although some tag wrestlers have seen success as singles stars, there is always a question if each member will sink or swim as a singles star. Ivar was not confident in his future. 

"I'm like, 'This is probably my last match,' 'cause historically when the one tag guy goes out, both tag guys gotta go out. So, I said to Kofi, 'This is probably my last match, I'll be out with Ray [Erik] while he's getting fixed up.' He's like, 'Alright, let's just do it! Let's just do the match, let's kill it.' And that's what we did, and after the match, I got called over and said, 'Hey, Ivar do you mind sticking around and doing singles stuff while Erik's out?' I'm like, 'Absolutely.'"

Since becoming a singles star, Ivar has faced several stars on "Raw," been in qualifying matches for titles, and even had a shot at "WWE NXT" North American Champion, Oba Femi, a match which he lost.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.