Erick Redbeard Was Told He Would Never Make Money With A Viking Gimmick

During his time with the Wyatt Family, one of the most baffling gimmicks sported by Erick Redbeard was his sheep mask. It now seems that the mask was the result of a long series of coincidences.

Redbeard, who at the time went by Erick Rowan, recently had a conversation with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, wherein he discussed the story behind the sheep mask.

I was doing all these different gimmicks, and I tried a Viking gimmick. I was told that would never make any money, which is funny three or four years later, there’s the Viking Raiders and they’re great. So I tried all these different things, and I did all these promos with Windham and Jon

Prior to the promo, Windham went to a Halloween shop and picked up a bunch of masks, including the sheep mask in question. Redbeard tried them all on, but revealed that Dusty Rhodes didn’t want Redbeard covering his face.

But back then, Dusty Rhodes didn’t want me to cover up my face. He said I was ugly enough without the mask [laughing], meaning I had a unique face.

When Redbeard debuted with the Wyatts in NXT, nobody told him he was debuting that night at Full Sail. Not wanting to wear blue jeans or trunks, he had to come up with something else. Fortunately, he had the jumpsuit in his trunk, along with all the masks.

Redbeard is set to reunite with Adam Scherr tonight, for the first time since 2016. Here’s hoping that he doesn’t have to put together an impromptu gimmick this time around.

What’s your take on this story? Sound off in the comments!