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WWE has been accused of dropping the ball with some of the releases of recent years like Aleister Black, Andrade, Bray Wyatt and Ember Moon. However, the Authors of Pain tag team rarely gets the love they deserve for what might have been before WWE let them down. Akam and Rezar showed tremendous potential as intimidating characters who could bring him into the ring.
The time in NXT and on the main roster had fans excited for their future. WWE has done a solid job pushing the perpetrators of pain as the dominant NXT team, a strong lead duo, and even lined him up with Seth Rollins. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the patience for the team’s timing with a quick exit. The story of the Authors of Pain deserves a closer look at what could have been and what went wrong.
The Writers of Pain Dominated NXT
Triple H did a great job of booking the pain writers into NXT when introducing the new act. Legendary manager Paul Ellering was known to manage the Road Warriors, so his presence with the Authors of Pain added instant credibility. NXT pushed Rezar and Akam into having them destroy the Enhancement Teams and lower tier Duos in the Beacon Division.
A step forward in the competition saw the pain writers having to step in for matches against the division’s flagship teams DIY and The Revival. Both teams were playing classic matches for the NXT Tag Team Championship to take the tag division to new heights. Rezar and Akam have thrived on stepping up matches against talent known for their work-rate.
The Pain Writers’ NXT Tag Team Championship reign helped them recover even more. Triple H even booked Authors of Pain to have a ladder match against DIY which set up Tommaso Ciampa by flipping Johnny Gargano. Akam and Rezar were called up to the main roster in 2018 after accomplishing everything they could in NXT. Most pundits thought they would get a big push due to Vince McMahon’s historic love of talent with their appeal.
Master List Promise
The main passage in the list of pain writers had a lot of ups and downs. Paul Ellering debuted with them to show continuity with the NXT act, but they got rid of him after just one match. Vince McMahon’s inconsistent feelings about managers and disliking acts he considers too outdated likely influenced this decision. Rezar and Akam would eventually be placed with Drake Maverick as their new manager.
The whole style changed when the pain writers got a comedy wrestler to handle them, but all three wrestlers found themselves on the same page. WWE even put the Raw Tag Team Championship on Rezar and Akam by defeating Seth Rollins. Dean Ambrose turning on Rollins led to the title change, but that only benefited the pain writers.
WWE would unfortunately stop and start too often to find consistency. The biggest opportunity for Rezar and Akam came when they formed an alliance with Rollins. WWE turned on Seth’s heel after his Universal Championship flop and placed the intimidating team with him. The pain writers looked great as Rollins’ muscle rejuvenated all three talents.
WWE Failed Team
The Pain Writers looked set to join Seth Rollins’ faction in the first part of his Messiah persona. Buddy Murphy also joined as the fourth member to round things out, with each talent bringing something to the table. Pain’s writers again scored major matches on the Raw brand against the duos of the Viking Raiders, Street Profits, Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe, and others to have issues with Rollins.
WWE should have easily made the faction last for the long haul, but an injury ended the run. Rezar suffering from a bicep injury led to Authors of Pain being pulled from television. WWE didn’t think they could have Akam on the show with Rollins and Murphy, even though he could have been a muscle for the band on his own.
Time on television led to pain writers being treated with less prominence as WWE began to have a series of cuts. Both Akam and Rezar were fired in September 2020 to make it clear they would not be returning to television. WWE left the promising tag team who showed potential every chance they got. The exit meant another draft ending with poor booking and WWE’s inability to highlight new stars. It’s such a shame that the authors of pain didn’t have a long run on the main roster dominating the tag division.
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