Two former champions may have secretly re-signed with WWE two years after release - Reports

Former RAW Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain (AOP) may have re-signed with WWE, according to recent reports.

Akam joined the Stamford-based company in October 2014. About seven months later, his tag team partner, Rezar, signed with WWE. The two superstars started teaming up in 2016. Over the next four years, they won the NXT Tag Team Titles and the RAW Tag Team Championship. However, they were released from their contracts in September 2020.

After reporting that WWE was interested in re-signing AOP, Fightful Select recently provided an update on their situation. Several sources told the website that Akam and Rezar have officially returned to the Stamford-based company since last year, under Triple H's leadership, despite not making their comeback on TV.

The re-signing reportedly happened before Vince McMahon's return to WWE earlier this year. Although the information has yet to be confirmed by Fightful Select, the website noted that the two superstars were on an internal travel list three months ago.

According to the same sources, Hall of Famer Paul Ellering was heavily involved in AOP's negotiations with WWE. Meanwhile, the website noted that they have tried to get a comment from the company or AOP, but neither party gave an answer.

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Why did WWE release AOP?

Before getting released from the Stamford-based company, Rezar and Akam were involved in a program in which they aligned with Seth Rollins. Hence, their departure surprised many fans.

During an interview on The Sessions with Renee Paquette, Akam opened up about why the company let them go. He claimed they were released because they refused to do a storyline they were uncomfortable with.

"I'd rather not [go into details] it was something in the company, obviously. But at the time, we were working with Seth [Rollins], we're working on top and we had this huge storyline. But at the time, Gzim [Rezar] had just gotten hurt. He tore his bicep. I think that was the last Raw before all the restrictions went in and then we went without a crowd, I believe and he'd just torn it. The whole time was coming back and just doing what we were doing before, and what had happened was he came back after four months and the script had completely changed and what they wanted us to do, at the time, we weren't really comfortable doing," said Akam.

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