Viktor Says There Was A Lot of Doubt in Ascension When They Won the NXT Tag Titles, Says They Weren’t Sure If Their Jobs Were Secure

Vitkor of The Ascension discussed the team’s time in NXT during an interview with Lewis Nicholls and revealed that even after they won the NXT Tag Team Titles, he and Konor didn’t feel secure in their jobs. The team won the NXT Tag Team Titles in September of 2013 and to this day stand as the longest-reigning tag team championship run on the brand. That said, Viktor said that at the time of their win, it felt like not just an opportunity but a make-or-break moment where they had to prove themselves and that their jobs could have been on the line if it didn’t work out.

Viktor noted that the feeling was something pervasive in WWE and in NXT at that time, which is that everyone had to fight for their places and jobs. You can see highlights from the discussion and the full video below:

On if he felt WWE had faith in them when they won the NXT Tag Team Titles: “Hmm. I don’t know if I ever thought of it that way. And not in a bad way, I mean. There was a lot of pressure on us. Like, when we won the tag titles, that was a very bizarre day. Mine and Ryan’s developmental career was interesting, like a lot of guys’ were at that time. It’s not the same world. And definitely yeah, we knew it was an opportunity. But it was more about proving ourselves, like there was a lot of doubt in us. And that was kind of, I felt like at the time, more instated for quite a while. And I think that might have got us to where we were, like when we first won the tag titles, we didn’t believe we were going to have them in a month. We weren’t sure we were going to actually be employed in a month or two, in all honesty.”

On the struggle to fight for a job in NXT at the time: “It was just like I said, you’ve always got to fight in WWE. And it was like a really big fight. And we never really stopped fighting, so it didn’t, it probably didn’t feel the same for people looking at us from the outside, as to how we felt. But in a way that’s probably why we were the way we were in the ring. You couldn’t get two guys more pissed off than what we were usually in our heads. I was, yeah, I need to be in a wrestling ring being how I am, because I need that outlet just because of stuff like that, I think.”

“Developmental for everybody that was there at that time, I think felt the same. And I think we felt like all the people we were there with, going through the same stuff? I thought we were yelling for them too. Because you just saw it every day. And it wasn’t an easy place, you know. There was definitely a point in time where they finally chilled out, like ‘This is really good.’ And we were like, ‘Oh okay, f**k. Everything’s okay now?’ But that didn’t happen right away.”

On the rigors of training: “It was tough, we were training a lot, we were working a lot. And NXT at that time, especially once we got to Orlando? Man, like six days a week for sure. Sometimes seven, because we’d still have Sunday shows sometimes. And you’d still go in to train Monday morning, Tuesday, every day. And that was a lot. Neither me and Ryan were super young dudes at that time, so there’s still a lot of young kids that are coming in. And you know, we were still going full bore.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Lewis Nicholls show with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.