First and foremost, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Brian, but my friends used to call me Snoop, so we can stick with that. I am just a wrestling fan, like everyone else here. And like most of you, I am a little jaded with the current product. I long for the days of the Monday Night Wars and for taking it to the Extreme! From Austin 3:16 to smelling what the Rock cooked that week. I miss wrestling with Attitude, but there is hope for the future! Athletes like Seth Rollins, Adrian Neville, and Daniel Bryan keep me coming back for more, while characters like Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose leave me wanting more. I will try to touch on a multitude of topics while I am here, so if you have any suggestions, hit me up in the comments. Weather you agree with me or not, I want to hear from you. But please be gentile, I bruise like a peach. Also, thank you to Widro and the Inside Pulse crew for giving me a chance to share my thoughts on the current state of affairs in the “rasslin” business.
With that being said, here we go…
I recently subscribed to the WWE Network(for the low price of $9.99, with NO LONG TERM COMMITMENT, CANCEL ANY TIME!), so I haven’t been able to see NXT from it’s inception as a stand alone brand. NXT and the pay-per-views were my main reasons for giving the network a shot. While the PPVs have disappointed(I’m talking to you Survivor Series and TLC) NXT has been the best program WWE has to offer. From the writing to the in-ring action, NXT never fails to entertain me.
I am also an old-school tag team wrestling fan. I go back to the days of the British Bulldogs, the Hart Foundation, and the Rockers. As far as I am concerned, nothing beats a finely executed double team maneuver from a real tag team. That leads me to the Ascension. Their work in NXT has been some of the best work I have seen from any young tag team in recent years. Viktor is the technician while Konnor brings the brute force. They were perfect.
Then word leaked that they were getting the call up to the main roster. THE BIG TIME! I was so excited! Finally a legitimate contender for the Uso’s tag titles. But then it dawned on me, the main roster is where good things go to die a slow and agonizing death. Paige, Adam Rose, and Johnny Curtis(Fan-dumb-gimick) all seemed to have IT, until WWE Creative got in their way. Paige, after a hot start, is now playing second fiddle to Total Bellas! just like the rest of the Divas. Adam Rose can’t beat anyone not in a bunny costume. And Johnny is dancing on Main Event and jobbing everywhere else. He’s not even doing the fandango for crying out loud!
But I digress. I know the Ascension had to drop the NXT tag belts before their call up. And I know there aren’t a lot of Tag teams in NXT right now, but does anyone believe that Huni Cara and Kalisto would really stand a chance in a fight with Konnor and Viktor? As if that wasn’t bad enough, they job to 2 NXT newcomers on their way out the door? Twice?! Finn Balor and Hideo Itami are the real deal, but who needed the win in that abbreviated feud more, the established tag team moving up the card, or the 2 new singles guys who are going right back to singles competition?
Now the Ascension are on the main roster looking like a cheap version of the Road Warriors. Why? Then they claim to be better that all of the other scary tag teams of the past. Why do they even bring up the Road Warriors and Demolition? Is it simply to draw attention to the fact that they have turned into a rip off of something that worked 20 years ago?
But the coup de grace for me is the squash matches. I know it is early, but they are wrestling in 2 minute squash matches with local jobbers every time out. Is that really necessary? How does that make them look strong? They don’t even get to squash Slater-Gator or Los Stereotypicales!? And every promo the have cut has been the exact same promo. I know there run is still in it’s infancy, but can they say something else? Anything else?
And just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse for Konnor and Viktor, I watched Monday’s Raw Reunion show. Watching Viktor have to sell punches from a depressingly decrepit Scott Hall made me weep. A bunch of old men, some of which could barely make it into the ring, just laid waste to the best tag team NXT has ever produced. Now, instead of getting into the mix for the titles in a very weak tag division, they have to fight the Old Age Outlaws? Good job WWE Creative. Way to kill any momentum they may have had left.
C’mon WWE, don’t ruin another good thing. There is still time. Let the Ascension do their thing. Let them be the dominant team they can be. Let them be original. But most importantly, let them ditch the latex shoulder pads. Who thought that was a good idea?
