During a recent interview with the Two Man Power Trip of wrestling Viktor from the Ascension spoke about the tag team’s struggle on the WWE main roster following their successful stint in NXT, as well as how PAC (fka Neville) nearly quit WWE after being pitched a mask gimmick. Highlights are below.
How the Ascension struggled after their main-roster debut:
“When we first came up we were Vince’s shiny new toys and I think we were tarnished in a month. So, it didn’t take too long. At the same time, we kept trying to prove ourselves over and over again with every opportunity that we were ever given. And it was funny because it would always feel like we would get a little traction on something or we’d kinda catch his eye again. And then he’d just forget about us the next week.”
How WWE adjusted their characters to a different spot than their NXT ones:
“It certainly doesn’t make any sense why you would change somebody’s look when they’ve already established themselves as characters. Like that was the thing. NXT, I felt like for a lot of us, was like our evolution. You’d start out as fresh-faced whoever on NXT and you’d evolve into who you’d become. And so that way by the time you’re on the main roster you didn’t have to redo yourself. But then it seemed like everybody that they brought up at that time was just like, ‘We’re gonna completely redo you – the way you look and make you something different.’ And you’re like, ‘Why the f*ck did I just spend five years working my ass off, chiseling myself into what I am now?’ I just couldn’t believe it.”
Says PAC nearly quit his first day on the main roster:
“I’ll never forget watching Neville walk into the locker room with the cape and one of the dumbest masks I’ve ever seen in my life. We were like, ‘What the f*ck is this?’ He almost quit that day.”
(H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.)