Viktor

Viktor's (under the ring name **Rick Victor**) *NXT* television debut took place on the June 20, 2012 episode of the rebooted *NXT* taped at Full Sail University, where he lost to Bo Dallas. On the September 12 episode of *NXT*, Victor confronted and slapped the NXT Champion, Seth Rollins, leading to Rollins facing and defeating Victor in a non-title match on the September 19, 2012 *NXT*. Victor resurfaced nearly a year later in NXT when he became Conor O'Brian's partner in The Ascension. On September 12, 2013, The Ascension defeated Adrian Neville and Corey Graves to win the NXT Tag Team Championship. On November 10, O'Brian and Victor's ring names were changed to simply "Konnor" and **Viktor**, respectively. On February 27, 2014 at NXT Arrival, he and Konnor successfully defended their championships against Too Cool, repeating the feat on May 29 at NXT TakeOver, against El Local and Kalisto. At NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way, The Ascension lost the titles to The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara), ending their reign a day short of a full year. That same night, they were in an altercation with NXT General Manager William Regal and the debuting Hideo Itami. After feuding with and assaulting Itami for several weeks, a second international wrestler, Finn Bálor, joined Itami in his fight against both Konnor and Viktor. This led to a match on December 11 at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution, where The Ascension were defeated by Bálor and Itami.

Viktor, alongside Konnor made his main roster debut on the September 9, 2014 episode of *Main Event*, with the duo defeating Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando) in a tag-team match to promote their NXT tag title defense against The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara) at the NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way event. On the December 12 episode of *SmackDown*, vignettes began to air promoting The Ascension's call-up to the main roster. The Ascension made their debut on the December 29 episode of *Raw*, quickly defeating The Miz and Damien Mizdow. The Ascension would continue to squash local athletes three weeks in a row on *Main Event* while indirectly criticizing of The Road Warriors. Their first major victory as part of the main roster was a win over The New Age Outlaws at the Royal Rumble. The Ascension suffered their first pinfall loss on the main roster on February 23 episode of *Raw*, losing to The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil). At WrestleMania 31, The Ascension made their WrestleMania debut in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal where both failed to win the match. On the May 11 episode of *Raw*, during a match between Curtis Axel and Macho Mandow, in the guise of Randy Savage, The Ascension attacked Axel and Mandow. It was then announced that the Ascension would face Axel and Mandow on the Payback pre-show, where they won the match. It was announced the Ascension would par take in a six team elimination chamber match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. At Elimination Chamber on May 31, he and Konnor eliminated Los Matadores and The Lucha Dragons until they were eliminated by The Prime Time Players, ultimately losing the match.

On the September 3 episode of *SmackDown*, The Ascension aligned themselves with Stardust by attacking Neville before their match, and thus forming a group known as "The Cosmic Wasteland". At Night of Champions, The Cosmic Wasteland defeated Neville and the Lucha Dragons on the pre-show. On the Survivor Series kickoff, The Cosmic Wasteland, The Miz, and Bo Dallas were defeated by The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley), Neville, Goldust and Titus O'Neil, in a traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team match. On the Royal Rumble kickoff, The Ascension lost a Fatal 4-Way tag team match to qualify for the Royal Rumble match. At WrestleMania 32, Viktor competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal but failed to win the match. On April 16, 2016, WWE suspended Konnor for 60 days for a second violation of the Talent Wellness policy. Following the suspension, Viktor began competing in singles competition, mainly on *Superstars* and *Main Event*. On the May 3 episode of *Raw*, Viktor competed in a United States Championship No. 1 Contender's Battle Royal which was won by Rusev. On the June 24 episode of *Superstars*, Konnor made his return from suspension, where The Ascension faced the Golden Truth (Goldust and R-Truth) in a losing effort.

On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, The Ascension were drafted to SmackDown, making their debut on the July 26 episode in a WWE World Championship No. 1 Contender's Six-Pack Qualifying Battle Royal, which was won by Apollo Crews. At the SummerSlam kickoff, The Ascension competed in a 12-man tag team match where their team lost. They then entered the SmackDown Tag Team Championship tournament, where they were eliminated in the first round by The Usos. On the September 27 episode of *SmackDown Live*, The Ascension picked up their first win on the brand, when The Ascension and The Usos defeated Heath Slater, Rhyno and American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) in an eight-man tag team match. At Elimination Chamber, The Ascension competed in a tag team turmoil match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship where they were the final team eliminated. Viktor, alongside Konnor, would later enter the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33, but both men were eliminated from the match. At Money in the Bank, The Ascension lost to Breezango after they claimed responsibility for a vandal attack in their office. On the June 27 episode of *SmackDown Live,* The Ascension was interrogated by Breezango on "Fashion Vice", admitting that they didn't commit the crime and only took responsibility, because they wanted a match at the PPV. In September, the duo turned face when they started trying to befriend Breezango during the latters' 'Fashion Files' segments. On the January 9, 2018 episode of *SmackDown Live*, The Ascension suffered a loss to The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan). For a while, the duo would only appear as supporting characters in Breezango's Fashion Files skits. At WrestleMania 34, Viktor competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal but failed to win the match.

During the 2018 Superstar Shake-up, The Ascension were traded to Raw. On the April 23 episode of *Raw*, The Ascension, once again as heels, facing against the team of Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt in a losing effort. At the Greatest Royal Rumble event, Viktor entered at number 8 but was eliminated by Daniel Bryan. At Survivor Series, The Ascension was apart of Team Raw in a 10-on-10 Survivor Series tag team elimination match where their team lost. At WrestleMania 35, Viktor competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal but failed to win the match.

On December 8, 2019, Viktor and his Ascension teammate Konnor were released from the WWE.