Vince McMahon chose to ‘bury’ WWE duo after main-roster call-up

Arn Anderson recalled on the latest episode of his ARN podcast that Vince McMahon purposely tried to “bury” The Ascension after they joined WWE’s main roster.

The former NXT Tag Team Champions put together an 11-match winning streak after their RAW debut in December 2014, including a victory over The New Age Outlaws at the 2015 Royal Rumble.

The Ascension

However, the standout moment from their first month on the main roster came when they were embarrassed by three legendary teams – the nWo, Farooq & Bradshaw and Road Dogg & Billy Gunn – on an episode of RAW in January 2015.

Vince McMahon ‘buried’ The Ascension

Arn Anderson, who worked under Vince McMahon as a producer for WWE at the time, said The Ascension’s gimmick was doomed to fail when the commentators were told to “bury” them and make comparisons to The Road Warriors.

“Why would you take any character that is on our show that the company professes to being the number one wrestling company, or the number one sports entertainment company in the entire world, and put them on our TV show with valuable TV time and bury them, have the announcers bury them?”

Asked if Vince McMahon would have made that call, the Hall of Famer said the WWE Chairman ultimately makes the final decision on characters and storylines.

“Sure. Everything character-wise passes by the big chair [Vince McMahon]. If it’s the last place they go, it goes by the big chair for approval. Make no mistake, characters, angles, you name it.”