Backstage Details On AOP's Heat, Creative Plans & Reaction To Working With Karrion Kross

It was announced last night that Akam and Rezar of the Authors Of Pain, alongside manager Paul Ellering, had been among several wrestlers released from WWE (including Sonya Deville, Blair Davenport and Cedric Alexander). 

In the case of The AOP, more details have emerged regarding their perception in WWE, reactions to their booking, and information about their deal in WWE. Fightful Select have revealed that when Akam & Rezar first returned to WWE there was some heat on them from within the industry due to several projects they were involved in during their absence from the company following their first release in 2020. 

Additionally, when the pairing returned to WWE, it is reported that bringing in Paul Ellering was a bargaining chip for them putting pen to paper on new deals, with them requesting that he join them in WWE. He was initially their manager during their run in NXT, though this was changed to Drake Maverick when they received a main roster call up. When it comes to their recent booking in WWE, there was a belief that they had been paired up with Karrion Kross in the Final Testament due to Kross being a well liked personality backstage, perhaps as a way to counter any potential heat. 

Kross has recently been on his own on WWE programming away from the Final Testament, with this falling in line with another detail from this report that suggests WWE had zero plans to use the AOP following the Final Testament’s feud with The Wyatt Sicks.

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