WWE star “impressed many backstage” after his original match plans had to be changed

As previously noted, a creative decision was made in WWE to push Ivar as a singles star following the injury of his Viking Raiders tag team partner Erik. Fightful Select noted the following about Ivar’s first singles match on RAW against Kofi Kingston that was changed from a tag team match…

“The match got praise heaped on it. One producer noted that Ivar hadn’t had a singles match on WWE TV in nearly five years that went over ten minutes, and said that not only did he not miss a beat, he impressed many backstage.”

It was added that the follow-up “Vikings Rules” match was also praised which “caused WWE to remain open-minded on using Ivar in a singles capacity.”