On Friday afternoon, WWE announced that they have released Akan and Rezar, who competed as The Authors of Pain (AOP).
WWE has come to terms on the release of Akam and Rezar (AOP). We wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
Akam (Sunny Dhinsa) and Rezar (Gzim Selmani) began teaming together in 2016 during their time together in NXT. They became the NXT tag champions in January 2017 defeating Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano at TakeOver: San Antonio and held them until August losing to Alexander Wolfe & Eric Young.
The two were called up to the main roster in April 2018 where they appeared on Raw the night after WrestleMania 34 along with manager Paul Ellering. Immediately, Ellering was eliminated from the act and they were later managed by Drake Maverick.
The two won the Raw tag titles in November 2018 beating Seth Rollins in a handicap match and held them for a month when they lost to Bobby Roode & Chad Gable.
Injuries hurt their momentum as Akam missed the first six months of 2019. The two had been paired with Seth Rollins as part of his faction but an injury to Rezar led to both being off television since March this year.
Selmani, 26, has a background in Mixed Martial Arts with a 6-2 professional record including fights with Bellator and BAMMA. He last competed in October 2014 and holds a victory over Oli Thompson. Prior to MMA, he competed in kickboxing.
Dhinsa, 27, was a high-level freestyle wrestler in Canada and was in the qualifying tournament for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. He signed with WWE in 2014, which ended his amateur career and any hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics.
