From the WWE Rumor Mill: Why WWE decided to split Authors of Pain and Paul Ellering

What's the story?

A few Raws ago the Author's of Pain made their much-anticipated main roster debuts by answering Heath Slater and Rhyno's open challenge. However, after the match, they parted ways with their manager Paul Ellering. PWInsider Elite Audio now has more information on that decision (H/T Ringside News).

In case you didn't know...

The speculation was that Paul Ellering made the decision to stay down in NXT because he didn't want to join the heavy touring schedule that comes with being on the main roster as part of Monday Night Raw. This is something that Ellering himself has stated.

For the record...I love traveling. I have seen this road before. My ♞ Algorithm for greatness stands the test of time. @WWENXT @WWENetwork @WWEUniverse #Champions pic.twitter.com/QbU5MZ252F

— Paul Ellering (@PaulElleringWWE) April 14, 2018

So, with that in mind, what is the real reason that the Author's of Pain decided to go it alone?

The heart of the matter

Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com addressed the Paul Ellering decision on his latest audio show (h/t Ringside News) where he stated that the WWE did, in fact, make a conscious decision to separate the dominant tag-team and their manager.

"As far as the AOP/Ellering thing, why did they do that? It basically was that they wanted Authors of Pain on their own and it was a creative choice by people on the main roster. they want Paul Ellering down in NXT working with others to prepare them and groom them. It’s that simple. It had nothing to do with Ellering not wanting to go on the road. He would have done anything that WWE wanted. He was just someone that they didn’t want to be with Authors of Pain at this juncture.”

What's next?

I imagine it won't be long until Ellering is paired with another up and coming tag-team, I see him being a good fit with the newly debuted War Raiders, or perhaps even someone like Heavy Machinery.

As for the Authors of Pain, I expect they'll be dominating some of the lower-card tag-teams like Slater and Rhyno and Breezango for a few more weeks until stepping into the title picture, in a path fairly similar to the Bludgeon Brothers on SmackDown.

Author's take

I like the decision to keep Ellering in NXT as a developmental manager. That seems like a good way to ensure that tag-teams like Authors of Pain get over.