From NXT to Place Holders
On December 29th, 2014, Viktor and Konnor, known by their team name of The Ascension, made their main roster debut on Monday Night Raw. It was inevitable that they were on their way up, having dropped the NXT Tag Team Championships to the Lucha Dragons and concluding their run in the developmental side of things by losing their program to Finn Balor and Hideo Itami.
The Ascension and Stardust: A Match made in Heaven
Their push was short-lived. Going from a power-house team that destroyed opposition and served as NXT’s longest-reigning champions in the tag division, they were introduced as a Legion of Doom knock-off. Their focus was put on over-taking the throne of the WWE’s tag team division and to do so, they had to dismiss every legendary tag team that paved the road for them and had similar molds to their style of wrestling.
Then they got beat up by legendary tag teams the nWo, the New Age Outlaws and the APA, and their time was up.
Okay, they recently got tossed into some multi-team matches for the tag titles, but they were as much a throwaway team as Los Matadores. They were reduced to jobbers. In fact, the most over they have been in the last few months has been their hilarious appearances in the WWE’s Swerved.
Evolution of Cody Rhodes into Stardust
Then there’s Stardust. A beautiful story of a man who has clearly lost his mind and how, he’s lost his grip on reality. Think back to his early days. He was a young man with Zelda-inspired boots, led by his mentor and tag team partner Hardcore Holly. From there, he was recruited by Ted DiBiase and later joined Randy Orton to become the three-man stable known as The Legacy. Fast forward to his single’s run where he went through several face changes, from Dashing to Disaster, Intercontinental Champion to Tag Team Champion, the one constant was that he’d have someone to fall back on, whether it be DiBiase, Damien Sandow or his brother Goldust.
After failing to put away the team of RybAxel, he assumed he was the problem and searched for a suitable replacement to team up with Goldust, in an effort to defeat Axel and Ryback. When multiple attempts failed, he came up with the master plan to evolve himself into Stardust. It was not Cody, but Stardust that served as the solution, as they beat their nemesis tag team. Eventually, they would re-capture the gold as well.
But when they lost them again, Stardust realized something. It wasn’t Stardust that was the weak link, nor was it Cody Rhodes. It was Goldust all along. Turning on his brother, Stardust shed the dead weight but at the same time, he lost the veteran voice of reason. The brotherly advice. The last bit of Rhodes he had left.
With the turn against his brother and disowning his own father, Stardust spiraled out of control into a beautiful disaster. His latest struggle with reality came during this year’s Summerslam, when his need for a hero resulted in a tag team match against Neville and CW’s Arrow star, Stephen Amell. Cody Rhodes would recruit a King in Wade Barrett but after suffering a loss, he dismantled the crown-wearing Brit the following night on Raw.
Again, Stardust fell back into an even darker place. He had finally hit rock bottom.
A place where he had company. That company was The Ascension.
The Ascension and Stardust: A Match made in Heaven
When you think about it, this is the perfect match for not only Stardust, but for The Ascension as well. One is the Prince of Dark Matter, the other two are an Illuminati-inspired team of big men that pride themselves in being powerful and aggressive. One is brilliantly technical in the ring, while the other are brute force. The Ascension are the yin to Stardust’s yang. The Alpha to his Omega.
Stardust is the brains behind this master plan and The Ascension are the force that can propel Stardust to reach his destination. The Ascension, on the other hand, are placed into a role with purpose. A guiding voice telling them that this is who they need to be in order to succeed. In the grand scheme of things, both parties can help each other.
All three men can now build upwards from this Cosmic Wasteland.
