The Ascension are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Konnor and Viktor known for their time in WWE. Currently, they work as The Awakening on the independent circuit under the names of Big Kon and Vik.
The Ascension was formerly a stable from 2011 to 2012. The Ascension originally started out in Florida Championship Wrestling as a stable consisting of Conor O'Brian, Kenneth Cameron, Ricardo Rodriguez, Tito Colon and Raquel Diaz. After several membership changes, Conor O'Brian and Rick Victor (their respective ring names were also shortened to Konnor and Viktor), then became established as a tag-team in NXT. Their 364-day NXT Tag Team Championship reign is currently the longest in the history of the title. In December 2019, the duo were released from WWE after months of inactivity.
History
WWE (2011–2019)
First incarnation (2011–2012) At Florida Championship Wrestling's August 28, 2011 event, 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 Florida Tag Team Championship but lost to then champions CJ Parker and Donny Marlow.
In October, The Ascension was no longer associated with Rodriguez, as video packages promoting The Ascension with new darker characters only featured the other four Ascension members without Rodriguez. By the end of November, The Ascension had all but disbanded, as O'Brian fell to injury and Colon was called up to WWE main roster to team with his cousin Primo, meanwhile Diaz became Queen of FCW and distanced herself from the stable. 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 group would prove to be beneficial for Cameron as he would go on 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.
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 of The Ascension, with their first tag team match together coming on March 23 when the two defeated Jason Jordan and Xavier Woods. The Ascension suffered their first loss when the pair lost to the Florida 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 and Chad Baxter, Jason Jordan and Mike Dalton, and Brad Maddox and Rick Victor.
On June 20, 2012, The Ascension made their debut on NXT, defeating CJ Parker and Mike Dalton 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 Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd on the October 3, 2012 episode of NXT. However, the team was disbanded after Cameron was released from his WWE contract on November 30, 2012 after being arrested.
NXT Tag Team division dominance (2013–2014) From there O'Brian worked as a singles wrestler, keeping the Ascension gimmick on his own for some time. Following O'Brian's victory over Briley Pierce and Sakamoto on the May 15, 2013 edition of NXT, Rick 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 November 8 the two were renamed, Conor O'Brian renamed to Konnor and Rick Victor renamed to Viktor.
