The Authors of Pain nearly walked out of WWE before their main roster run even began. In a new interview, Rezar revealed that he and Akam were ready to quit the company the very day they were told their manager, Paul Ellering, would not be joining them.

The duo had been a dominant force in NXT with Ellering by their side, and the split left them so frustrated they considered handing in resignation letters immediately. “To be honest, when we had to leave Paul Ellering, that was the day that we were deciding to stop with WWE,” Rezar told The Metro. “And me and my tag team partner Akam, Sonny, he said, ‘Yo, let’s just give our resignation letter and just leave.’”

Ellering himself convinced them to stay, telling them they had worked too hard to throw it away and could always reunite later. Rezar also claimed the move stemmed from Vince McMahon’s philosophy at the time. “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,” he said.

The Authors of Pain went on to win the Raw Tag Team Championships during a brief run before being released in 2020. They returned in 2024 but were once again cut earlier this year.

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