8 Wrestlers Who Stayed In NXT Far Too Long
7. The Ascension
Though currently represented by Konnor and Viktor on SmackDown, The Ascension started life as a four-man group comprised of Konnor, Kenneth Cameron, Tito Colon, and Raquel Diaz. The latter three were eventually released from their contracts, and Konnor teamed-up with Viktor in 2013. They became NXT Tag Team Champions that October, and didn’t lose the belts until September 2014 - almost a full year later.
Their run sounds great on paper, but it was far from it. The bulk of The Ascension’s defences consisted of them squashing a series of overmatched enhancement talents in under a minute, and they rarely faced serious competition. It was a tedious, tiresome slog, and by the time the Lucha Dragons eventually defeated them, fans were more relieved than anything else.
Konnor and Viktor have, of course, sunk like a couple of pebbles on the main roster, but they spent an unjustifiably long period of time clogging-up NXT’s tag scene. The division was almost worthless throughout their run, and people quickly grew tired of the predictable squash matches. Calling them up earlier wouldn’t have improved their eventual main roster fortunes, but it was clear very early in their Tag Title run that their presence was doing more harm than good.