Why AOP Almost Quit WWE Immediately After Main Roster Call-Up

The Authors of Pain’s first run on the main roster turned out to be very unfortunate and they were eventually released back in 2020. As it turns out, the duo nearly quit WWE immediately after getting called up to the main roster.

While speaking with Metro.co.uk, Rezar said they were upset when WWE took away their manager, Paul Ellering, even though he had been a big part of their success in NXT.

In NXT, Akam and Rezar were a dominant team and won the tag team titles with Ellering guiding them. But when they moved up to the main roster in April 2018, WWE told them Ellering would not be joining them.

The news was so frustrating that they thought about quitting right away. Rezar explained that Ellering himself convinced them to stay, reminding them of all the hard work they had put in and telling them they could always reunite later.

Rezar also claimed that Vince McMahon was the reason Ellering was removed, saying McMahon didn’t want other older people on TV and wanted to be the only senior figure in the spotlight. This was just the start of the struggles AOP faced during their time on the main roster.

“To be honest, when we had to leave Paul Ellering, that was the day that we were deciding to stop with WWE. The first day at the main roster, they were telling us, ‘You have to leave Paul Ellering.’ And me and my tag team partner Akam… he said, ‘Yo, let’s just give our resignation letter and just leave’.” He said it was Ellering himself who convinced them to stay. “Paul told us, ‘Try it out. I’ve helped you guys to get there, so much hard work, we can always get them back together later’.

It was the Vince McMahon thing. He didn’t like older people than him or people his age on the show. He wanted to be the only elderly person who would be in the spotlight at the time.”

While AOP came back last year with Paul Ellering, they were eventually released by WWE again earlier this year. While it’s unclear if they’ll ever return, fans are aware AOP simply had no chance to succeed during their first run in the company, if nothing else.

Do you think WWE made a mistake by removing Paul Ellering from AOP when they debuted on the main roster? Sound off in the comments.