Konnor Reveals Wild Gimmick Dusty Rhodes Initially Pitch For The Ascension
Despite being removed from WWE for over a year, The Ascension, now known as The Awakening, are still tagging together on the independent scene. While most WWE fans recognize The Ascension as the duo of Konnor and Viktor, the idea behind the longest-reigning NXT Tag Team Champions actually began as a five-member faction.
the Wrestling Inc. Daily to discuss the group’s origins. The former Konnor revealed that the first ideas for what would become The Ascension were conceived after he was eliminated from season five of the original NXT.
In an interview with Wrestling Inc, Big Kon (formerly Konnor of WWE) spoke about being pitched The Ascension and how the group changed from its original incarnation. Here are highlights:
On the start of the group: “It all started when it would’ve been NXT season five, the original NXT version, where I got voted off, and no one likes be rejected. So I was pissed. And I was hurt. So I get a text message from Bill DeMott who says, ‘Listen, we got some ideas for you, so report to practice on Wednesday please.’ And I was like, ‘Yes, sir.’ So I show up, and he goes on about the idea they were looking to do, and this is what they’re thinking. So then I saw it was Shaul [Guerrero], it was Epico, it was Tom Latimer (Bram), it was Ricardo Rodriguez, and it was me. And I’m looking at the five of us and I’m thinking this doesn’t make any sense at all. Like to me, I’m shooting straight right now, it looked to me like this is just five rejects that no one knows what to do wi