The Ascension Is the Modern-Day Version of The Powers of Pain

Growling powerhouses adorned with face paint, The Ascension's Viktor and Konnor feel like 2016 remakes of The Powers of Pain. 

Their approach to offense, sci-fi-inspired ring gear and inability to push their way to the top of the tag team division bring back memories of The Powers of Pain. In the late '80s, The Warlord and The Barbarian stormed into WWE as a duo. Like their rivals Demolition, this new hulking team in black boots and armbands looked like something yanked from Mad Max's Thunderdome.

Today, Viktor and Konnor are their descendants. The former NXT tag team champions have followed The Powers of Pain formula, even if it wasn't hugely successful the first time around. 

The comparisons between the two teams have to begin with their appearances. The Ascension clearly took makeup tips from the '80s duo.

A Familiar Look

Warlord and Barbarian each circled their eyes with face paint. Barbarian donned a faux-hawk to go with his menacing glare. They wrapped their wrists in black tape; red-and-black armbands clung tight to their biceps.

Credit: WWE.com

During that more gimmicky era, The Powers of Pain didn't stick out because of this garb. The team was actually continuing a trend.

The Road Warriors first rocked this look. Demolition added a touch of S&M to it. The Powers of Pain looked to just be reprising what The Road Warriors were doing.

When The Ascension came along and looked to have raided the closets of The Powers of Pain, fans took notice. DC Matthews of the New Age Insiders podcast pointed out how the group felt like a rehash:

Viktor and Konnor have put a different spin on face paint, opting more for an Egyptian flair, but the rest of the look is clearly Powers of Pain-inspired. They wear the same black wrist tape and later began wearing nearly identical armbands.

And Viktor looks to have gone to the barber and said, "Give me The Barbarian look." 

Rather than ignore the parallels, WWE had The Ascension own them early on. The team's first promos saw Viktor and Konnor claim to be better than Demolition, The Road Warriors and The Powers of Pain.

The idea seemed to be to try to convince the audience that these weren't watered-down versions of those gimmicks but upgraded models.

Steamrolling Style

The Powers of Pain's name suggests just what kind of wrestlers they are. One doesn't give a high-flying, technically sound team that moniker.

Neither Warlord nor Barbarian were great grapplers. They were wrecking balls with wide shoulders. Much of their offense featured clotheslines and powerslams—high-impact, straight-ahead moves.

One didn't expect five-star bouts from them, but rather ring-shaking power.

WWE has tried to portray The Ascension as the same type of warriors. When Viktor and Konnor battered nameless jobbers for much of their NXT run and during the early stages of their WWE tenure, they did so by way of a Powers of Pain-style attack.

Powerbombs and slams were key for them.

That's partly why seeing them go up against aerial specialists The Lucha Dragons had Smith Hart flash back to The Powers of Pain taking on a faster, more athletic duo:

One of the issues plaguing The Ascension, though, is that this dynamic is ill-fitting. While both The Barbarian and The Warlord boasted intimidating physiques and came off like overpowering monsters, neither Viktor nor Konnor has the build to convincingly play that role. 

Konnor is a big man, but not nearly as massive and musclebound as either member of The Powers of Pain. And Viktor is 6'2'' and 219 pounds, a far cry from the mass of humanity that was The Powers of Pain (each man surpassed the 300-pound mark).

It's hard then to buy into these two as destroyers.

Place on the Tag Team Hierarchy

During The Powers of Pain's two-year WWE run, the tag team division featured a long list of great teams. In a less competitive era, Warlord and Barbarian may have been a top duo, but instead they had to give way to Demolition, The Rockers, The Hart Foundation and others.

The powerhouse team never won the tag team championships.

They competed at only one SummerSlam and one WrestleMania. WWE didn't often book them to take down top competition. Warlord's WWE.com profile reminds us of that fact: "Although they made short work of unimpressive local tandems, the duo struggled in marquee matchups against Demolition, The Hart Foundation and even The Bushwhackers."

Viktor and Konnor have never had a high-profile feud like The Powers of Pain did against Demolition.

They do share Warlord and Barbarian's title-less history so far. They haven't beat any big names, either. For the most part, WWE has used The Ascension as the team other squads step over to get where they are going. 

Considering how The Cosmic Wasteland (The Ascension's alliance with Stardust) came and went without much impact and how much distance remains between The Ascension and title contention, it won't be surprising if the group exits WWE before long.

Like The Powers of Pain, Viktor and Konnor will have a gimmick to lean on should they move to the independent circuit or become a novelty act down the road.