Former RAW Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain and WWE Hall of Famer Paul Ellering may be returning to the company soon, but not on the main roster, and they may have been under contract for months.
As PWMania.com previously reported, WWE expressed interest in bringing Akam and Rezar back to the company in January, but other sources indicated that AOP was already in talks for a return, possibly as early as 2022.
In an update, PWInsider reports that there has been a lot of internal talk in the last week about Akam, Rezar, and Ellering making some appearances soon, most likely for the WWE NXT brand.
The rumor first surfaced about three weeks ago, but backstage at Tuesday’s NXT TV tapings, there was talk of AOP and Ellering possibly making an appearance in September.
AOP would be used to help boost the NXT tag team division, which is currently led by Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo, as well as acts such as The Creed Brothers, Bronco Nima and Lucien Price, The Dyad, Gallus, Charlie Dempsey and Drew Gulak, Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs, Hank Walker and Tank Ledger, and others.
Regarding Ellering’s return to AOP, word has it that Akam and Rezar are extremely loyal to the legendary manager. Ellering was said to be leading AOP’s contract negotiations with WWE, and that they made sure he was involved. Ellering has remained close to AOP, and they have his permission to use the Legion of Pain name outside of WWE because it is a reference to Ellering’s most famous on-screen and off-screen clients, WWE Hall of Famers The Road Warriors, also known as The Legion of Doom.
Ellering is still believed to be under a WWE Legends contract, but there has been no word on a new talent contract if he and AOP do indeed return. It was rumored that Ellering left AOP when they were called up to RAW in April 2018 because he did not want to deal with the travel that comes with working on the main roster, but he later denied this.
On a related note, Fightful Select adds that multiple sources claim AOP has been under contract with WWE since 2022, but this cannot be confirmed. Back in May, the group was added to an internal travel list.
Akam, 30, and Rezar, 29, have not wrestled since the March 9, 2020 RAW episode, when they teamed with Murphy (aka Buddy Matthews) and current WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins to defeat The Street Profits and The Viking Raiders in an eight-man tag team match. On the November 25, 2019 RAW, they defeated Zack Ryder (aka Matt Cardona) and Curt Hawkins (aka Brian Myers) in a standard televised tag team match. On April 19, 2018, they defeated TM-61 in a non-televised live event in Sanford, Florida. They worked a Triple Threat with Butch (aka Pete Dunne) and Roderick Strong, and the winners, then-NXT Tag Team Champions Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly, at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans on April 7, 2018. On September 4, 2020, Akam and Rezar were released from their WWE contracts, just as Rezar was recovering from a torn biceps suffered in that March 9, 2020 RAW match. AOP once held the RAW Tag Team Titles and once held the NXT Tag Team Titles. They also won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in 2016.
While AOP has not wrestled since leaving WWE, they had big plans for their own promotion, which was set to launch in mid-2022. The World Entertainment Series (WES) was announced in May of that year, with plans to debut on Saturday, July 9 at the 10,000-seat Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England. The WES debut event was supposed to air on FITE, but there were several controversies surrounding the launch, including talent speaking out and backing out, among other things. The event was then canceled just three days before the show, with at least some of the blame placed on the absence of talent. Refunds for tickets and pay-per-view viewings were issued, along with an apology. WES had promised that this would not be the final word on the new promotion, but it was. WES advertised a number of matches for that first show, including Moose vs. Alistair Overeem for the WES World Title, Lina Fanene (fka Nia Jax) vs. TBD for the WES Women’s World Title, Legion of Pain (fka AOP) vs. BT Gunn and Kez Evans for the WES World Tag Team Titles, Steph De Lander (fka Persia Pirotta) and Anastasia vs. She Wolves for the WES Women’s World Tag Team Titles, Samuray Del Sol (fka Kalisto) vs. Lince Dorado, and Damo Mackle (fka Killian Dain) vs. Dean Muhtadi (fka Mojo Rawley), plus two pre-show matches – Eric Young vs. Zac Zodiac and Levis Valenzuela Jr. (fka No Way Jose) vs. Jody Fliesh.
