Did The Acension ever Stand a Chance?

[J.J.]

Two weeks worth of vignettes hyping their debut on the main roster. 3 weeks worth of squashing enhancement talent, unwarranted mic time, the announce team virtually buried them, their promo claiming dominance over Road Warriors/LOD, worked in a segment to be buried by a group of guys 50+ in years.

The only bright spot was their victory over NAO which simply lead....well...nowhere but to Superstars and Main Event. Then an odd alliance with Stardust that led to even more nothing. Then to top it off I see them come down to NXT 2 or 3 months ago and lose against Jason Jordan and Chad Gable. And recent Raw appearance with Stardust. To sum up their first year on the main roster - WWE has done everything to dismantle this team from how they were booked in NXT.

So my question is, what went wrong? Did they ever stand a chance or am I missing something?

 

[Azane]

Their Gimmick doesnt work for mainstream, they're just a discount LoD on RAW, and that's all they'll ever be with what they are now.

Announcers can't put anyone over but the main event, unlike NXT where they do their job and call matches and hype talent, the main announcers just talk about Roman Reigns and John Cena, even when they're not even on the card, it's what's been holding a lot of Mid Carders to the lower mid card.

Their presentation after the few squashes, turned into Jobbers of the future.

 

[kc2788x]

Two weeks worth of vignettes hyping their debut on the main roster. 3 weeks worth of squashing enhancement talent, unwarranted mic time, the announce team virtually buried them, their promo claiming dominance over Road Warriors/LOD, worked in a segment to be buried by a group of guys 50+ in years.

The only bright spot was their victory over NAO which simply lead....well...nowhere but to Superstars and Main Event. Then an odd alliance with Stardust that led to even more nothing. Then to top it off I see them come down to NXT 2 or 3 months ago and lose against Jason Jordan and Chad Gable. And recent Raw appearance with Stardust. To sum up their first year on the main roster - WWE has done everything to dismantle this team from how they were booked in NXT.

So my question is, what went wrong? Did they ever stand a chance or am I missing something?

To be honest, there is way too many tag teams right now to just really focus on one individual tag team, it doesn't help them even more because the WWE just sign another tag team that could possibly form the Balor club, the writers write now are not focus on them. As much as I hate HHH maybe one way to get them over is to have HHH form a alliance with them and the double cross Stardust. It didn't help them one bit to talk smack of the Road Warriors. That, in my opinion was their down fall.

 

[TDFG]

I have to agree with the comment that they were discount LOD, maybe a poor man's mixture of LOD & Demolition.

They haven't impressed, the in ring skills and moveset is limited and to be honest I'm surprised they've lasted this long.

 

[shafe_41]

Yes. They did. I've never been high on the Ascension personally. But they debuted... trashed the NAO who are at or around 50, and tried to sell a watered down, trashy, awful version of the Road Warriors. They would have been fine being their own thing and not a knock off of arguably the greatest tag team of all time.

Are they awful in the ring? No. But they've just never captured my attention. Even in NXT, I didn't get the hype. They were just aggressive dudes with facepaint. Their finisher... not that impressive. It just didn't match their aggressive nature in my book. Almost seems out of place. Their work on the stick... meh. Couldn't care if they ever picked up a microphone. I won't claim I've seen everything they've ever done because I haven't. But what I have seen doesn't set them apart from anyone. They need repackaged totally. They need new looks, no facepaint, and a new moveset with a different finisher. Dash and Dawson have a better gimmick. And their gimmick is... barely having a gimmick.

 

[Aquaman6686]

The Ascension were another example of the NXT crowd ridiculously overhyping a talent, to the point where it made them seem far better than they really are. They're a mediocre team, with mediocre ring skills. They might eventually get a brief tag team title run in the future, but only as transitional champions. They're just not good enough to be a top team in WWE.

 

[Heartbreak_Kid_707]

In NXT I loved them. They were dominant.

They moved to the main roster and just ....blah....fell flat. They didn't look impressive in the ring or didn't sound it on the mic.

To be honest I could see them being cut soon..

 

[Navi]

I was on the RAW LD thread the night they debuted and couldn't wait for it. Was so disappointed with the way they were handled not to mention talked about especially by the announce team. JBL can suck a big one after that.

They never fully recovered from that first few outings, and I'm afraid that they will never reach what could have been their potential. Vince tweaked their gimmick to the point where they looked like a joke. Was a waste. Norcal was beside himself, so was I.

It sort of left me wondering why bother bringing these guys up from NXT if they are only going to get treated like shit when they get to the main roster. Isn't the point of having a development system to train them and give them a head start. The only one who's done anything so far is Kevin Owens, and it's a shame. But looking at the WWE as a whole, it's not just the NXT who get treated like crap, half the roster is treated like they don't exist half the time as well.

 

[Rocky84]

They weren't booked properly. I always thought that they would've been called a tad bit sooner during Wrestlemania 30 to team up with Kane when he had to deal with The Shield. Instead it was the Outlaws. He should've went the Demon Kane route and brought in reinforcements from NXT (still connected semi-corporate since it's HHH's company). I think they missed the mark there. Just my opinion.

Instead, from day 1 they just handled them all wrong. It's so weird the way they handle talent nowadays. It never used to be like this. They boost a guy, then forget about him, then bring him back, drop him again and leave them in limbo...like Ryback for example. Then the 50/50 booking. Place is a mess. How can you have a good product when you handle talent this way?

Like trying to make a good soup (product) with veggies (talent) you let rot by forgetting about them. How do you expect it to be good?

 

[stingray11214]

The Ascension would have had a chance if VKM would just LEAVE THINGS THE FUCK BE! He tried to turn the Ascension into a poor man's version of a team that they were not even in the same stratosphere. Had VKM allowed the Ascension to operate as they did in NXT, lord only knows what would have happened. As for the NXT crowd "overhyping" them: That is pure bullshit. You are talking about a crowd that is in what was one of the crown jewels in the NWA, Florida. Those people probably remember Mike Graham, Hiro Matsuda, the Spoiler and "Night Train" Rufus R. Jones. Championship Wrestling from Florida was one of the premier companies in the business. The NXT fan was probably brought up watching CWF back in the day. If they didn't, they were told stories of the great matches. So, they will lynch those that have no business being in the ring. The Ascension clearly had business.

Now, compare THAT to the average Sports Entertainment fan that attends a WWE show. They are more there to be part of the experience. They do not care about the wrestling. Come on, do you think that any SERIOUS fan of pro wrestling would even TOLERATE the idiotic sketch of a trombone's funeral that they had on Monday night? Do you think ANY serious team like the Ascension would have a chance when you are dealing with spectators who are more "Big Brother" than "Championship Wrestling"?

 

[Softcore Holly]

With the way they were booked since arriving no seems like a very safe answer. Like it's hard to imagine a pair of guys that would be able to make the bad LOD thing work, and it's even harder to imagine how anyone thought that making them look dumb on Raw thanks to much older part-timers was a good idea. OK sure they got the win in that feud but that somehow just got them sent straight to jobberville.

At the rate they're going I would be very, very tempted to send them back to NXT. The in-ring skill is obviously there but perhaps they can work more on their promos and lets just say extra time in NXT's gym instead of being on the road definitely couldn't hurt. With time people will forget how low they've fallen and they can eventually re-debut as a actual useful part of the main roster.

 

[Mustang Sally]

....WWE has done everything to dismantle this team from how they were booked in NXT.

Or perhaps it was just Vince McMahon, who is the one who would have ordered their de-push.

Does Vince even watch NXT? We know he's left the whole operation to his son-in-law, so maybe he accepted Trips' suggestion that these guys were ready to move up, and once they got to the main roster, Vince promised to 'give it a few weeks' to see what developed. When he didn't like what he saw, on came the descension of the Ascension.

Of course, there's no way to know if this is what happened or not, but it sure would explain why they sunk to the bottom in a hurry.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

I was never impressed by The Ascension 2.0, even on NXT. I won't disagree that they were set up for failure, then eventually torpedoed on the main roster, but they were never going to go anywhere even booked as a threat.

Kenneth Cameron (now Bram in TNA) had a great look, and Konnor next to him looked like a threatening and dark team. Viktor is what killed it for me. The dude is rocking the balding pony tail and I doubt that he truly is his billed height of 6 foot 2. He's probably closer to 5'10 irl.

Konnor would have made for a great Jannetty to the Cameron, but that guy went and fought the law, you know the rest.

It's all the look to me. They're average to good wrestlers, they didn't command attention, they're look didn't display that they're worth watching. You debut these guys with this dark gimmick, this yelling and unstoppable gimmick, and half the team is smaller than Damien Sandow who works essentially a Nancy-boy gimmick, what's that?

I thought they were a joke in NXT when they were running roughshod over jobbers every week. Everyone looks tough against jobbers. The Ascension was the wrong gimmick for Viktor, and basically doomed Konnor.

Maybe if they didn't wear the face paint, worked the whole Illuminati thing, and didn't run down the legends, it might have worked. They're average at best. There are far more exciting teams coming down the pipe through NXT, teams that have much more potential than the Ascension ever had. The Ascension were done the night Kenneth Cameron was arrested.

 

[ShinChan]

To be honest, I have never liked them on Main Roster. Their debut run was too much like a squash and they were left off wandering just like that. Their finisher was dumb and their continuous bashing of veteran teams and then getting retreated to backstage by some veterans made them look like a joke.

​

 

[Reflection]

Yes, The Ascension did stand a chance. And yes, they can still be salvaged, in my opinion. They made a few silly mistakes, but nothing too serious that cannot be undone. Trying to sell them as the modern day Road Warriors was never going to work, they should have known that. If one team starts putting people through tables, they won't become the Dudley Boys. Add to that, the commentary team's goof-up, and Animal taking offence to certain segments, it was pretty much screwed. I agree with Vanilla that their size is a problem, and it's hard to be scared of little monsters. I think they could add a third member, and Stardust can continue to play that role (even without formally becoming a part of The Ascension), but two things need to happen- 1. Stardust should stop being a comedy character; he should be similar to them in behaviour, 2. Keep it simple. Book them as three serious, merciless, angry wrestlers. That's it. They don't have to be monsters, they don't have to be an unstoppable force. If these two things are done, I feel that they can be more successful than they have been thus far.

 

[MartialHorror]

To be fair to Vince, the crowds seemed indifferent to them. Perhaps it was just the gimmick? Also, I think NXT was just really breaking out as the Ascension were preparing their...Ascension...

They're solid- but unexceptional- workers and they do have a certain amount of...I don't know if personality or charisma is the word I'm thinking of. But I do like their aggressive style of promos, even if they have no weight because they look all the time. In NXT, they shined because they were booked incredibly well. On the main roster though, it would look odd seeing them dominate the likes of Big E, Cesaro, the Wyatts, etc.

While you can argue that their victory against NAO is a plus, Billy Gunn didn't really make them look good. If you watch the match, the goal almost seems to be getting HIM over instead of the Ascension, even if they won.

 

[OYDK]

I'll say the Ascension stood a chance, however it wasn't a very great one. Sure they got more hype and pageantry upon their debut than most people get, but they were also saddled with a gimmick that didn't have much of a shot of getting over. A gimmick completely different than what they'd just spent two years developing. They were given mic time, but as soon as they said something a tad bit controversial they were essentially buried. Also, the ANNOUNCERS. I have never seen an announce team bury a team or a wrestler as bad as Cole, King, and JBL buried the Ascension. It was honestly fucking pathetic. Lastly, they were still fairly green when they debuted. Everybody expected them to just jump in and win the titles but they didn't have the experience needed to thrive.

At the end of the day, the Ascension had a chance to get over. They were given mic time, air time, decent feuds, etc. But they were handicapped by shitty booking, bad management, and being put in a position they weren't ready for. And ultimately, they were buried after just a few short months. So they had a shot, but a very very slim one.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

No, I don't think they stood a chance at all on the main roster. They were alot better in NXT, but even then I don't think the team was as good with Viktor as it was when it was Kenneth Cameron and Connor O'Brien (Konnor). They worked much better together.

Plus, I really don't understand why their dark gimmick was completely ripped apart when they debuted on the main roster. What is the point of a talent learning a gimmick in NXT, getting it over with the crowd and perfecting it, then starting totally from scratch when they get to the main roster. Isn't the point of developmental to give wrestlers to chance to master their gimmick, DEVELOPING it into something that's good and ready for the main WWE?

Making them a Road Warriors clone was never going to work. Fans were obviously going to turn on a pathetic clone of arguably the most popular tag team of all time. It's just like if WWE tried to make a rip-off of Hulk Hogan, or The Rock...it just wouldn't work, and it killed The Ascension from the get go. JBL's burial of them was disgraceful too, it was embarassing.

Plus, both members of The Ascension need to get back in the gym. Konnor looks awful these days, and Viktor doesn't even look like a wrestler...and for the love of God shave off that ponytail. It looks terrible!

 

[evildicey]

Agreed with the previous poster. If they had not decided to 'tweak' gimmick they may have stood a chance. I was watching one of their old vignettes on YouTube and found it really impressive. If they had used a similar style to promote their main roster debut, kept the same gimmick/ring attire from nxt and talked less then who knows. Imagine if they had a brood style entrance to go with their 'we will rise vigeettes' and destroyed/attacked the tag champs in their debut?

 

[Piss Bucket]

Nope, as they are they're a bargain basement Legion of Doom/Road Warriors tribute act, and that's probably all they ever will be short of completely changing their look and/or gimmick.