AOP Comment On Their WWE Releases
The former NXT Tag Champions had a difficult time on WWE main roster
AOP’s WWE main roster run my have yielded tag gold, but it was a disappointment, especially after the team’s dominant tenure in NXT.
After a run hampered by myriad injury woes, WWE released Akam and Rezar in September 2020, and in conversation with Ango, AOP have shed more light on their release:
“So basically… we departed from the company, it was nothing negative about it,” Akam started out. “It was at a time when COVID had just started, we were in a pretty big storyline at the time. What happened was, we couldn’t travel anymore. COVID was very strong, we were asked to do something, like go back, but we opted out of it. We didn’t feel comfortable doing it.
“At the time, that was the big thing. Nobody really knew. ‘What happened with AOP?’ Nothing, we opted out to stay with family, take care of our family and be home close to them. There was a lot of uncertainty, all across the board. WWE officials, there was uncertainty with what they wanted to do and as far as humans and family men, we had our own uncertainties of what we wanted to do for our families. That’s all it was, there was nothing else to it. We have no ill will towards the company. They booked us good and treated us well. Nothing negative about it.”
Before their release the tandem were paired on screen with Seth Rollins, and Rezar reflected on their time as a unit:
“It was a big thing, it could’ve been even bigger. Obviously, s**t happens, right? I tore my bicep during a match and was off. I healed fast and fully recovered in four months’ time. I had a hotel next to the facility in Pittsburgh to do my rehab. I just killed it… they came back with a plan, we opted out of it. We thought our personal needs were more important at that time. COVID hit, we wanted to be with family. We took that decision to go home, recover fully, we stayed in really good contact. Last twelve months, we worked harder than we ever did. We eventually choose to opt out, go back to our homes. A year later… we stayed silent for a reason, we wanted to come back with a bang. We obviously had a lot of offers, a lot of talks. We felt like the right thing hasn’t really got us yet.”
H/T: WrestlingNews.co