Authors of Pain Retire from the Ring

Former WWE Superstars Akam and Rezar of AOP are reportedly retired from pro wrestling.

It was reported today by Fightful Select that other wrestlers had inquired about bringing The Authors of Pain to particular wrestling companies last year, but there was no movement on the horizon. Word is that Akam and Rezar were brought up to AEW last year, but officials weren’t sure if they were a good fit at the time. The door was still left open for AOP to potentially work with AEW in the future.

AOP were also brought up to NJPW officials, but the company was not bringing over new talent to Japan at that time, and the budget for such a move was said to have not been near what was required.

As of now, word going around is that both members of AOP are working regular jobs these days. One promoter who reached out to AOP were informed that both men had “retired” from the business. It wasn’t clear if the wrestlers themselves said they were retired, or representatives for the group, but we will keep you updated.

Akam, age 28, and Rezar, age 26, were released from their WWE contracts on September 4 of last year. Rezar had been on the shelf since suffering a biceps injury earlier that year in March.