Authors of Pain
The Authors of Pain (AOP) are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Akam and Rezar, with Paul Ellering as their manager. They are currently signed to WWE, where they perform on the NXT and SmackDown brands as members of The Final Testament stable. In WWE, they are former one-time Raw Tag Team Champions and one-time NXT Tag Team Champions.
| Authors of Pain | |
|---|---|
Akam (left) and Rezar (right) with Paul Ellering (back, on ring apron) in April 2018 | |
| Tag team | |
| Members | Akam / Sunny Dhinsa Rezar / Gzim Selmani Paul Ellering (manager) |
| Name(s) | AOP Authors of Pain Legion of Pain |
| Billed heights | Akam: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Rezar: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Combined billed weight | 620 lb (280 kg) Akam (290 lb), Rezar (330 lb) |
| Former member(s) | Drake Maverick (manager) |
| Debut | June 8, 2016 |
| Years active | 2016–2020 2023-present |
Akam and Rezar first teamed up in June 2016, paired with manager Paul Ellering in WWE's then developmental league NXT. They won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in 2016, leading to them winning the NXT Tag Team Championship. In April 2018, Akam and Rezar were promoted to the Raw brand, with Drake Maverick taking over as their manager and the team's name officially shortened to AOP. AOP took a hiatus in early 2019 and returned later that year, but without Maverick as their manager and later becoming enforcers to Seth Rollins. They were released in September 2020. They re-signed with WWE in 2023, and made their televised return in January 2024, once again aligning themselves with Ellering, as well as with Karrion Kross and Scarlett starting a stable as The Final Testament.