WWE has released The Authors of Pain.
It was announced today that WWE has released Akam and Rezar from their contracts. WWE issued the following on their departures:
AOP has been off WWE TV since Rezar suffered a bicep injury back in March, right as they were in the middle of a push on RAW with Seth Rollins and Murphy. The push came as they had a big fan in Paul Heyman, who was working creative as the RAW Executive Director at that time. The decision was made then to also pull Akam off TV until Rezar was able to return.
It was reported on August 27, via the Wrestling Observer, that AOP would not be working with Rollins when they did return. It was also reported then that the tag team was expected to be back on TV some time between September and the end of this year. There’s no word yet on what led to the departure, but we will keep you updated.
Akam first signed with WWE in October 2014. He formed the tag team with Rezar in February 2016, just a few months after Rezar signed in the fall of 2015. The Authors of Pain would go on to hold the WWE NXT Tag Team Titles once, before being called to the main roster for a spot on the RAW brand in April 2018.
Stay tuned for updates.