Authors Of Pain Contemplated Quitting WWE After Being Called Up And Splitting From Paul Ellering

The Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar) found success in NXT under the guidance of Paul Ellering, winning the NXT Tag Team Titles and Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

In 2018, they were called up to the main roster and split from Ellering.

“That was the day that we were deciding to stop with WWE,” Rezar told Alistair McGeorge of Metro. “We were just called up, and the first day at the main roster, they were telling us, ‘You have to leave Paul Ellering. Me and my tag team partner Akam, Sonny, he said, ‘Yo, let’s just give our resignation letter and just leave,’ but Paul told us, ‘Try it out. I’ve helped you guys to get there, so much hard work, we can always get the back back together later.'”

Rezar believes Vince McMahon’s policy led to Ellering not being on TV.

“He didn’t like older people than him or people his age on the show. He wanted to be the only elderly person who would be in the spotlight at the time,” he said.

Drake Maverick became the manager for AOP before they joined forces with Seth Rollins in 2019. They were released from WWE for the first time in 2020, but returned in 2024.

They were released again in 2025.