The Ascension The Ascension is a professional wrestling tag team , consisting of Konnor and Viktor . Their NXT Tag Team Championship reign , which lasted 364 days , is the longest on WWE ' s developmental territory NXT . In 2011 , the Ascension started out as a stable which also had Kenneth Cameron , Ricardo Rodriguez , Tito Colon , and Raquel Diaz . In March 2012 , the Ascension would become a tag team consisting of O ' Brian and Cameron after O ' Brian returned from injury while the other members disbanded from the Ascension . After Cameron ' s release , the Ascension would later consist of Connor O ' Brian and Rick Victor , now known as Konnor and Viktor , since July 2013 . History . Developmental territories . Background and Formation ( 2011 - 2012 ) . Ricardo Rodriguez and Conor O ' Brian were initially allies during the season 4 of NXT . Ricardo was the ring announcer for Alberto Del Rio , who was acting as pro to mentor Conor , who was a Rookie competing to win . The two came at odds with one another as they competed for Alberto ' s favour . Ricardo misled Conor using a path of cheese ( as Conor was constantly called very rat - like ) and the two eventually had a match . Conor was ultimately eliminated , and Alberto got a new pro , Brodus Clay , who parted ways from him after failing to defeat Edge at WrestleMania 2011 . On August 28 , 2011 , Ricardo Rodriguez announced the formation of a stable called The Ascension , with members including Kenneth Cameron , Conor O ' Brian , Tito Colon , and Raquel Diaz . The first match to include all members in some capacity came on September 1 , 2011 , and saw Cameron , Colon and O ’ Brian , accompanied by Diaz , defeating CJ Parker , Donny Marlow and Johnny Curtis . On September 30 , Cameron and Colon had a shot at the FCW Tag Team Championship but lost to the current champions of CJ Parker and Donny Marlow . By October , the Ascension was no longer associated with Rodriguez , as video packages promoting the Ascension only featured the other four Ascension members without Rodriguez . By the end of November the Ascension had all but disbanded because O ' Brian was injured , Colon had been called up to WWE to team with his cousin Primo ( see Primo & Epico ) . Diaz became Queen of FCW and distanced herself from the group . This left Cameron as the sole survivor of the Ascension and he continued to use the Ascension gimmick during his appearances . However the disintegration of the Ascension would prove to be beneficial for Cameron as he would go onto a three - month singles winning streak beating the likes of Jiro and Calvin Raines until he finally lost to Colin Cassady on February 23 , 2012 . O ' Brian and Cameron ( 2012 ) . On March 15 , 2012 Cameron was accompanied to the ring by the returning Conor O ' Brian in his match against Byron Saxton , the match ended in disqualification when O ' Brian interfered . Cameron and O ' Brian began wrestling as a tag team using the name The Ascension , and their first tag team match together came on March 23 when the two defeated Jason Jordan and Xavier Woods . The Ascension suffered their first loss when the pair lost to the FCW Tag Team Champions , Corey Graves and Jake Carter , in a title bout . After this loss the Ascension would go on another winning streak , including winning a fatal four way elimination against the teams of Adam Mercer & Chad Baxter , Jason Jordan & Mike Dalton , and Brad Maddox & Rick Victor . On June 6 , 2012 , The Ascension made their debut on " NXT " , defeating Mike Dalton and CJ Parker with their double team finisher , Downcast . They would later enter a rivalry with the Usos , with the Ascension getting the better end of most of the encounters between the two teams . The Ascension also defeated another main roster team in Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel on the October 3 , 2012 episode of " NXT " . However , Cameron was released on November 30 , 2012 after being arrested . NXT territory ( 2013 - 2014 ) . O ' Brian worked as a singles wrestler keeping the Ascension gimmick on his own on WWE ' s developmental territory NXT . This lasted until May 2013 , when he began teaming with Rick Victor at house shows following Victor ' s return from an injury ( Victor was incorrectly attributed in dirt sheet reports as Judas Devlin , another developmental wrestler ) . Following O ' Brian ' s victory over Alex Riley on the June 5 , 2013 edition of " NXT " , Victor appeared on the ramp , getting O ' Brian ' s attention . Victor would officially accompany O ' Brian to the ring as his partner in The Ascension on the July 3 edition of " NXT " as O ' Brian defeated Andy Baker . After winning a gauntlet match to determine the number one contenders for the NXT Tag Team Championship , the Ascension defeated the team of Adrian Neville and Corey Graves on the October 2 edition of NXT to capture the titles . On the 8th of November the two were renamed , Connor O ' Brian renamed to Konnor and Rick Victor renamed to Viktor . For the majority of their title reign ; The Ascension would battle and dismantle local wrestlers in mere minutes with very little to no offense from their opponents . Their first major title defense was against Too Cool at NXT ' s first live event ; NXT Arrival where they emerged victorious . The Ascension began demanding competition in the weeks following , moving up from local wrestlers to random combinations of teams made up from contracted wrestlers . While still disabling and annihilating their opponents week after week , they were confronted by a team of masked wrestlers ; El Local and Kalisto who challenged them for their tag team titles at the second live event , NXT Takeover . At the event , after hitting Fall of Man on El Local , The Ascension successfully defended their NXT Tag Team Championship titles . A NXT Tag Team Tournament was set up for the winning team to become the # 1 contenders to face the Ascension at NXT Takeover II . On September 3 , the team of Kalisto and Sin Cara won the tournament to become the # 1 contenders and will face the Ascension at " Takeover II " . At " Takeover II " , The Ascension lost their NXT Tag Team Championship to Lucha Dragons . The Ascension later at " Takeover II " interrupted Hideo Itami ' s debut segment , still very upset after losing their titles earlier that night , and proceeded to attack Itami and then demand a rematch . Itami recovered and cleared the ring of both members of the Ascension . On the September 18 edition of " NXT " , the Ascension attacked Itami after his debut match while still upset of Itami clearing the ring of both of them on " Takeover II " . On the following week of " NXT " , The Ascension lost their NXT Tag Team Championship rematch against the Lucha Dragons when Itami appeared and distracted them . A match was set in next week ' s episode of " NXT " between the Ascension member Viktor against Itami , the match never started as both members of the Ascension attacked Itami when he came out . For the next several weeks on " NXT " , the Ascension would continue the assault until Itami had enough and would announce that he would bring a friend to help battle against the Ascension . On the November 6th episode of NXT , Itami ' s friend was revealed to be a debuting Finn Bálor and they both would bring down the Ascension that night . After feuding with Itami and Bálor for weeks , the Ascension will fight against them in a tag match at the NXT Takeover : R Evolution event . A week before the NXT Takeover : R Evolution event , Bálor warned them that he will being something that they have never seen before at the special event . At " NXT Takeover : R Evolution " , The Ascension lost against Bálor , with a body paint look , and Itami at the special event . Main roster ( 2014 - Present ) . On the December 12 episode of " Smackdown " , a vignette aired for their call - up to the main roster . On the December 29th edition of Raw , they made their official main roster debut by defeating The Miz and Damien Mizdow . They made their " Smackdown " debut on January 2 when they defeated local wrestlers in a squash match . Extending their winning streak through more wins over local wrestlers , The Ascension would also criticize legendary WWE tag teams including Demolition and The Road Warriors . On the January 19th edition of " Raw " , also known as " Raw Reunion " on that night , The Ascension would confront the reuniting members of the New World Order members Kevin Nash , Scott Hall and X - Pac , and were about to attack them before they were interrupted and brought down by the Acolytes Protection Agency and the New Age Outlaws . Later that night it was announced that a tag match was set up between the Ascension and New Age Outlaws at the Royal Rumble pay - per - view . The Ascension would then defeat the New Age Outlaws at the event , continuing their winning streak .