On the June 5th, 2013 episode of NXT, Rick Victor aligned himself with Connor O’Brian and they would go on to form what was at the time, the most devastating force in NXT, The Ascension.
They would quickly gain momentum, won a gauntlet match to become #1 Contenders for the NXT Tag Team Championships, then held by Corey Graves & Neville. On the October 2nd, 2013 episode they would win the titles in dominant fashion and wouldn’t let them go until 364 day letters when they were defeated at NXT Takeover: Fatal Four Way to the Lucha Dragons (Kalisto & Sin Cara). Following this, they would enter a feud with a debutting Hideo Itami and Finn Balor, who they would lose to at NXT Takeover: R-Evolution, which was their final match for NXT aside from a couple of off appearances against teams like American Alpha & The Revival.
Main Roster Floundering
Immediately after leaving NXT, they would get vignettes hyping up their debut on the Main Roster, and they seemingly were set for the same course: destruction on the way to tag titles. That is, until they compared themselves to The Road Warriors and Demolition. They then confronted Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and X-Pac, who were having a NWO reunion of sorts, only to be blindsided and embarrassed by The APA (Bradshaw & Farooq) & The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn & Road Dogg).
The new monster tag team, was reduced to a laughing stock by teams of the past, and they would never recover. That segment was likely the last time they got any spotlight, until they were involved in Fashion Files skits with Breezango in 2017. They were directionless for nearly two years, aside from their time with Breezango were they were comedic goofs, they might as well not been around. They haven’t been seen on TV since Ocotber 8th, 2018 when they were defeated by Chad Gable & Bobby Roode. Their last appearance in general was the April 8th, 2019 episode of WWE Main Event, where they lost to Heavy Machinery. Since then, they haven’t even been on house shows.
Not Even In WWE 2K20
Since WWE 2K15, where they appeared as DLC characters, The Ascension have been a constant force in the video game series, until the latest installment, which seemingly has every other person on the WWE roster, which The Ascension still are. They are still both listed as being part of Monday Night RAW, despite being completely skipped over in the 2019 Draft.
Not In Tag Team Turmoil World Cup
Later this week at WWE Crown Jewel, WWE is running the biggest tag team turmoil match in history, featuring every tag team currently on the WWE main roster… except The Ascension & The Colons (who are on loan to World Wrestling Council where Epico is their champion, it’s run by their uncle Carlos Colon). Also absent from that match is The Usos, who are off TV after Jimmy Usos DUI. But unlike the Colons & Usos, there is no excuse for The Ascension.
Could One Be Injured?
It’s not unusual for a tag team to vanish off TV if a member is injured, but there has been no news about either man going down with injury. There’s been no news period on them for a while, as they’re just not too notable these days.
The future of The Ascension is steeped in mystery at this stage, at 38 (Viktor) & 39 (Konnor), they’re past their primes as performers, and will likely be best known as the one time longest reigning tag champs in NXT history, especially if they don’t emerge somewhere and make one final impact. I don’t think fans would hate to see them make a final run in NXT atleast before they’re done, to test out the current tag division as veterans of it. But at the same time, as sad as it is, fans also wouldn’t complain if they don’t show up again, as they’re already all but forgotten.
