A former tag team specialist opens up about a proposed WWE singles push.
During their time in WWE, Akam and Rezar worked in the tag team division exclusively as The Authors of Pain. They also had a brief run as members of the Karrion Kross-led faction, The Final Testament. This all happened on the screen. But did you know Rezar was being pushed behind the scenes for a singles career?
Rezar told Metro recently that there were tentative plans at one point to split up AoP. There were some within the company who saw him as his own star. But something held him back.
Rezar Refused A WWE Singles Push Out Of Loyalty For His Authors Of Pain Tag Partner, Akam
Some wrestlers specialize in the tag team division and prefer being there. They make a name for themselves by being solely tag team players, while some others, like The Dudley Boyz, The Hardy Boyz, and Edge & Christian, for instance, moved on to singles competition and found tremendous success there.
According to Rezar, the thought of being a singles star did not excite him because the loyalty he had for Akam stopped him from going to that frame of mind.
‘A lot of people backstage [in creative] were pushing to do that. But I made my name in a tag team. I don’t go behind someone’s back,’ he said. ‘The talks were there, but I was never really interested.’
The AoP’s RAW Tag Team Championship win was noteworthy as it came during a feud with Seth Rollins, a top star in the industry. Unfortunately for the duo, things did not go incredibly well afterwards. As part of the COVID-19 pandemic budget cuts in 2020, they were released, although AoP feels there was another reason why they were let go.
In 2024, they were back on WWE TV as part of Karrion Kross’ Final Testament faction, but were once again released one year later.