Despite their reputation as former NXT Tag Team Champions, the duo of Akam and Rezar – the Authors of Pain – was overlooked by Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown during this year’s WWE Superstar Draft . As it seems, this might be due to the fact that the duo hasn’t been booked on television in several months, as Akam had missed significant time with an injury. But with AOP regularly getting featured on recent TV vignettes, it looks like the former champs will soon be assigned to the red brand once again after all those months in creative limbo.
In a report that cited Dave Meltzer’s latest update on Wrestling Observer Radio , WrestlingNews.co wrote that the Authors of Pain will be heading to Monday Night Raw “soon” after getting snubbed in the recently concluded draft. No dates were specified for the tag team’s return, but the outlet noted that it isn’t surprising they will reportedly be booked as part of the red brand’s programming in the near future. That’s because Raw executive director Paul Heyman has been credited for the multiple vignettes that have been hyping their return in recent weeks.
In the latest of these clips — available on WWE’s official YouTube account — the Authors of Pain mostly spoke in their native languages, with the only bits of English coming through their introductions and the name and acronym of their tag team. As seen in the subtitles, Akam and Rezar expressed how unhappy they were about not being drafted, claiming that they weren’t selected by Raw or SmackDown because both brands’ parent networks don’t want to deal with the “backlash” of signing them.
As usual, both AOP members bragged about how no other team can stand up against them in a fight, promising to take out their frustrations on their opponents once they return to the ring.
War is coming… #WARISOURPEACE #AOP #AUTHORSOFPAIN ?? ?? @Akam_WWE @WWE pic.twitter.com/QdKzsJNYyT
— Gzim Selmani (@AlbanianPsycho) October 16, 2019
As further pointed out by WrestlingNews.co , fans can expect greater things from the Authors of Pain once they re-debut on WWE television. Citing an unnamed source within the company, the publication wrote that the plan is for AOP to be pushed as a pair of “unstoppable monsters,” similar to how they were once booked as one of NXT ‘s most dominating tag teams of all time.
Despite winning tag team titles on both NXT and Monday Night Raw , the Authors of Pain haven’t always had it easy since jumping from the black-and-gold brand to the red brand. Aside from Akam’s injury woes, the team was briefly paired late last year with Drake Maverick, who replaced legendary manager Paul Ellering soon after their move from NXT to Raw . This led to a number of comedic angles for the burly grapplers, with the likes of Bleacher Report criticizing WWE for wasting AOP’s potential.