Authors Of Pain May Have Re-signed With WWE Months Ago, Paul Ellering Involved

According to a new report, the Authors of Pain may have secretly re-joined WWE some time ago.

As Akam and Rezar, the Authors of Pain found great success when they appeared on the scene in NXT in 2016. Within their first year on NXT television, the duo won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic as well as becoming NXT Tag Team Champions, all under the guidance of WWE Hall of Famer Paul Ellering.

The pair made their way to Monday Night Raw in April of 2018, attacking Ellering to end their partnership once they joined the red brand. They went on to become Raw Tag Team Champions later that year, but lost the title after just 35 days to the team of Chad Gable and Bobby Roode.

In March of 2020, after an on-screen alliance with Seth Rollins, Rezar suffered a biceps injury and the team disappeared from television. They were released from their WWE contracts in September of 2020.

The pair haven’t wrestled since leaving WWE, though they attempted to start a new promotion called Wrestling Entertainment Series in 2022. Despite massive hype, the WES show was postponed and ultimately cancelled.

Are Authors Of Pain Back With WWE?

Back in January, Fightful Select reported that WWE had interest in re-signing the duo. Now, an update from Fightful Select reveals that according to several sources, Akam and Rezar actually re-signed with the sports entertainment giant in 2022, though this hasn’t been confirmed. Sources specifically indicated that the pair re-signed prior to Vince McMahon coming back into power as his return put a halt to signing talent other than new recruits.

The report notes that AOP made sure Paul Ellering was “heavily involved” in negotiations.

Fightful Select also reports that the Authors of Pain were on an internal travel list back in May. At this time, they’ve received no response from either WWE or the Authors of Pain themselves.