WWE took a step forward this past weekend by resolving their situations with a few wrestlers who wanted out of the company.
In quick succession on Sunday, WWE announced that Luke Harper, Sin Cara, and The Ascension had been released: “WWE has come to terms on the releases of Jonathan Huber (Luke Harper), Sin Cara, and Ryan Parmeter (Konnor) and Eric Thompson (Viktor) of The Ascension. WWE wishes them all the best in their future endeavors.”
Harper’s release saga was nearly eight months long. He went public with his request via a statement he posted online on April 16. He spent the next five months off of television before then returning in a pretty significant angle at Clash of Champions, helping Erick Rowan defeat Roman Reigns in their no disqualification match.
Made up of Viktor (Ryan Parmeter) and Konnor (Eric Thompson), the duo had been on the shelf TV-wise for some time and had been mainly relegated to WWE Main Event prior to that.
The two were a big part of the early days of NXT’s tag team division, holding the titles for just under a year from 2013-14 before losing to Kalisto and Sin Cara. They were called up to the main roster after three years in FCW/NXT and were presented as a similar team to Demolition and the Road Warriors due to their painted faces and overall look.
However, It didn’t take long for The Ascension to be pushed to the side creatively as less a month into their run, they were beaten up by the APA and New Age Outlaws in an angle on Raw. They eventually got a win over the Outlaws at the Royal Rumble, but the promise they showed in NXT never carried over to the main roster. The team’s main roster run totaled nearly five years in both Raw and SmackDown and they never held either brand’s tag titles once.
Outside a three-year break from wrestling and work on the indies, the 39-year-old Parmeter had been in the WWE system since 2005, dating back to the Deep South Wrestling days. The 39-year-old Thompson is a Stampede Wrestling/Hart Dungeon alumni that had been in the WWE system since 2011 and actually defeated Seth Rollins for the FCW heavyweight title back in 2012.
The Big Takeaway: After his strange pairing with The Ascension on the show last week, it was business as usual for Tyler Breeze, who beat Curt Hawkins in the opener.
Taking Breeze’s place in a repeat of last week’s main event, Mojo Rawley teamed up with The Ascension. They lost in a ridiculously short six-man tag match against Zack Ryder & The B-Team.
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After his absence last week, Percy Watson returned from assignment to make up the three-man announce booth alongside Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness.
Tyler Breeze defeated Curt Hawkins (5:55)
Fresh off his Mixed Match Challenge debut with Ember Moon, where he replaced the injured Braun Strowman this past week, Hawkins returned to singles action. Breeze had played a pawn in last week’s six-man tag match here on Main Event, when he teamed with The Ascension, and so this was a return to the normal run of things for both men.
Hawkins looked like he was going to finally snatch a win, as Breeze very much played the heel. After both men had put each other in the tree of woe and both had kicked out of near falls, Hawkins nailed Breeze with a running lariat. But much to Hawkins’ chagrin, Breeze kicked out at two and a half.
With the referee trying to break Hawkins off at the ropes, while Breeze grabbed a rest, Hawkins was ushered away and Breeze was able to nail him with a superkick and then the Unprettier for the win.
The loss for Hawkins took him to 0-238 as of this match. He is winless since November 2016.
The B-Team & Zack Ryder defeated The Ascension & Mojo Rawley (2:26)
When the entrances run longer than the match itself, it’s rarely a good sign — and this was no different. As the time suggests, this wasn’t much to write home about and, inexplicably, it even ran through a commercial break.
Curtis Axel was the star of the show. After Rawley had played his usual bull in a china shop role, the ring filled and they all started to go at it. Ryder gave the Rough Ryder to Rawley and Viktor sent Bo Dallas outside. With the match running at 100 mph, Axel had to take control.
Viktor tried to roll Axel through and use the ropes for leverage, but the ref saw it and called it, stopping the count. Axel seized the opportunity to roll Viktor back through and snatched the three count before celebrating wildly with his team mates.
This trio are now 2-0 and are certainly fun to watch.
The Big Takeaway: Titus O’Neil beat Mojo Rawley in a battle of the big men. Tyler Breeze teamed up with The Ascension in what became a fun six-man tag main event against Zack Ryder and The B-Team.
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With Percy Watson absent from the commentary booth this week, Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness felt like a much more cohesive unit.
Titus O’Neil defeated Mojo Rawley (4:48)
Joseph noted that this would be a “strength vs. strength” match from the outset and, given who the “strength” were, that’s about as big a turn off as you can get. But to give them their dues, this was okay and the crowd got into it late on.
Rawley took the main body of the match, taunting O’Neil and posturing to the crowd, while O’Neil played babyface in peril. But when O’Neil got the heat and some revenge for the trash talk, it was fun to watch.
They went to the finish after a few near falls. O’Neil Irish whipped Rawley and went for a back body drop, but Rawley stopped to kick O’Neil. Rawley then charged at O’Neil, but he managed to grab Rawley and turn it into the Clash of the Titus for the win.
The B-Team (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas) & Zack Ryder defeated The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) & Tyler Breeze (6:39)
The story of this one was that Breeze was the odd man out, a babyface trapped on the heel side. They bullied him throughout the match. The Ascension blind tagged him and would use him in assisting their power moves. Breeze played the part well with B-Team pinning him in the end.
It was nice to see The Ascension get to do something a little more creative than their usual outings on Main Event. For most of the match, they cut the ring in half, beating on Ryder and using Breeze aggressively for their own means — tagging him and out at their leisure.
When Ryder eventually got the hot tag to Axel, he cleaned house so that Viktor and Konnor were left unable to make the save on the outside. He and Dallas teamed up on Breeze to deliver a belly-to-back neckbreaker combination on him for the win. This was way more interesting than the normal tag matches on Main Event.
The Big Takeaway: With all the talk about the women’s revolution in WWE at the moment, a show that would be a perfect training ground for some once again featured no female performers.
After a win on Main Event last week, Mike Kanellis went back to his losing ways, with a loss against Zack Ryder. The team of Chad Gable & No Way Jose then dispensed with The Ascension in fairly swift fashion.
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Zack Ryder defeated Mike Kanellis (5:40)
Last week it looked as though they were at least aware of the terrible start that Kanellis had made on the main roster, when they played up his lack of a win and teamed him up with The Revival to get one. He took a step back here by losing to Ryder in what was actually a pretty decent match.
Ryder came out to the ring in his futuristic silver coat with a ‘Z’ fastening the front, and reminded me of the comment on his Twitter this week. Ryder noted how The Miz’s new merchandise essentially rips off Ryder’s old design. Actually, both Ryder and Kanellis could use some new ring gear.
They worked nicely together here, trading near falls at the end: Ryder dodged Kanellis’ charge so that he posted himself, and then Ryder hit the Broski Boot. Kanellis kicked out and managed to nail Ryder with a superkick. Ryder then reversed a suplex into a neckbreaker and followed it up with the Rough Ryder for the win.
Chad Gable & No Way Jose defeated The Ascension (4:15)
The unlikely pairing of Gable and Jose made short work of The Ascension here. Konnor and Viktor are perennial losers anyway, but this was brief and nothing to write home about.
The Ascension tried to cut the ring in half and stop Jose from getting the hot tag and, even in a short four-minute tag match, resorted to chinlocks and rest holds. The crowd was relatively into the finish when it came, but the conga line always makes Jose’s matches feel more loud than they probably really are.
The finish began when Jose hit a flapjack on Viktor, but Konnor broke up the pin. Gable then hit a rolling senton off the apron onto Konnor on the outside. This allowed Jose to hit the pop-up punch on Viktor. Viktor didn’t quite know how to sell it, so Jose maneuvered him into position for the pinfall.
The Big Takeaway: The Ascension grabbed a very rare win in the opening bout against Heath Slater & Rhyno, and former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal returned to Main Event to beat Zack Ryder and close out the show.
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The Ascension defeated Heath Slater & Rhyno (5:08)
Both matches on the show this week felt slow and labored. And at just over five minutes, this easily felt twice as long as that. Nigel McGuinness noted on the bell that Rhyno and Slater had been “tearing it up at the live shows” of late, but there was little evidence of that here.
The Ascension don’t get many victories. You have to go back as far as February of 2016 to find a tag team win for the pair — and it came on a show that no longer exists (Superstars) against a team that featured a wrestler who no longer works for WWE (Damien Sandow).
The finish started when Konnor broke up a pin attempt by Slater, then Rhyno clotheslined Konnor to the outside. Viktor, in turn, sent Rhyno out and Slater tried to steal the pin on Viktor. Konnor then sent Rhyno into the dasher boards, while back in the ring Viktor clotheslined Slater and tagged Konnor back in. Together, they hit The Fall of Man on Slater for the win.
Mahal hasn’t appeared on Main Event since March of last year, and that’s probably quite a good barometer of just how much his push totally transformed his career. He went from a regular on Superstars and then Main Event to WWE Champion within months. His change in physique was marked and appeared to have a significant influence on the timing of his upturn in fortunes.
He and Ryder worked as you would expect: Mahal’s move set is a slow, heel one that included several long headlocks here. It stifled what Ryder does best and took the pace and thrust out of his offense. The match only really picked up when Ryder got some hope.
Ryder connected with a forearm on Mahal in the corner, but Sunil Singh distracted him on the apron. After he had scared Singh off, Ryder went for the Broski Boot, but Mahal had it telegraphed and was able to hit the Khallas for the win.
