The Ascension Continues Promising Heel Run with Royal Rumble Win

The Ascension claims to be the greatest tag team of all time.

Sunday at the Royal Rumble they laid waste to a tag tam that has a more legitimate claim. The Ascension scored a quick win over the New Age Outlaws. This furthered a theme of their questionable tear through WWE's semi-main roster.

The Royal Rumble kicked off with The New Age Outlaw's popular pre-match routine. Fans at the Wells Fargo Center raucously recited every memorized word. The Attitude Era was back in full effect, if not temporarily.

Following the Outlaws came The Ascension in full-on 80s mode. The shoulder pads. The facepaint. The over-the-top entrance.

It was as if WWE time-traveled but didn't know where to land. At the same time, it was kind of brilliant.

WWE will not succeed with The Ascension if their goal is to be taken 100 percent seriously. The novelty of their act has come and gone, but the parody of it all is just scratching the surface.

To date, The Ascension has zero matches against a regular main roster tag team. They remain in their own parallel universe, which is really the only place they can build any real momentum. Fans are actually reacting to their intentionally outlandish claims when it's just as easy to dismiss them.

Chants of "NWO" filled the American Airlines Arena as they attempted to run down Kevin Nash and Scott Hall.

Interacting with legendary tag teams adds legitimacy to these claims for The Ascension, which will further anger fans.

Following their win, John Bradshaw Layfield acknowledged how impressive their win was. With The Usos once again defeating Miz and Mizdow, they may be the next No. 1 contenders.

This would be a mistake. 

The Ascension is still quite green. James Caldwell of PWTorch noted The Ascension "just doesn't look ready." The team needs smoke and mirrors like lesser opponents, aging legends and bold statements. These factors distract from their shortcomings. 

To book The Ascension like a regular tag team is out of touch. To keep them on their current track is satire.

The Ascension is not the greatest tag team of all time. And that's exactly what makes them great.

Listen for more on The Ascension, The Yes Movement and the WWE Royal Rumble.

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