Released Ex-WWE Champion Confesses: “They Didn’t Like Me Backstage”
This former WWE star recently got candid about his time with the Stamford-based promotion.
Rezar (Real name: Gzim Selmani), who was part of the tag team Authors of Pain, began working in WWE in 2016.
After Authors of Pain were released in 2020, they came back for another stint in 2024, but an altercation with The Wyatt Sicks backstage after a match in 2025 got them fired.
Rezar opened up about the incident and how people saw him backstage in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani.
Rezar Says WWE Stars Did Not Like Him Backstage
Rezar’s path to WWE was not via the indies, which he thinks could be the reason many wrestlers had an issue with him.
He says that wrestlers who had worked for 16 years to finally get their chance in WWE obviously did not respect that he got the chance directly. He clarifies that the company wanted him, and it wasn’t that he tried to beg his way into working there.
It worked against me. They didn’t like me backstage, especially the wrestlers who had already been wrestling for 16 years and finally made their way to the Performance Center. They didn’t respect it.
They didn’t like guys who didn’t pay their dues in the wrestling business — the bingo halls and all that. They didn’t like that. But what can I do? I didn’t beg to go there. WWE wanted me. I didn’t go through the indies.
Did they give me a hard time? Yeah, they tried to. But at the end of the day, they knew I was a legit killer, so they didn’t want to f*** with me backstage too much either.