AOP appeared in a video tonight reintroducing themselves to the WWE audience.
After introducing themselves, both spoke in their native languages. They said they had come to the WWE because they wanted to fight. They couldn’t continue their MMA careers because no one wanted to fight them. They called the WWE tag team division soft, saying that none of the teams are hard enough to fight them.
They ended the promo by issuing a warning, saying that they want the opportunity they have earned or they will take it. They called themselves the future of the tag team division, and that the future will be written in pain.
AOP have been wrestling at house shows, but have not appeared on WWE television for most of the year. Their last appearance together on television was back at the Super Showdown event in June, taking part in the 50-man battle royal.
You can watch the full video of their reintroduction below:
Akam of the Authors of Pain returned to action at Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia.
AOP (Akam and Rezar) were both entrants in the 50-man battle royal. They took part in a spot where they faced off with the Viking Raiders and Heavy Machinery during the match, which led to AOP being eliminated. Akam and Rezar threw Tucker over the top rope before being eliminated by the Viking Raiders.
Sin Cara was also in the battle royal. This was his first match since last August.
The battle royal was won by NXT’s Mansoor Al-Shehail, who is Saudi Arabian and was involved in the segment with the Daivari brothers at the Greatest Royal Rumble in 2018.
Post Wrestling’s John Pollock reported last week that AOP had been set to return for a few weeks. Pollock wrote that Akam had been cleared and that it was a matter of coming up with a program for AOP.
AOP are part of the Raw tag team division.
Akam underwent knee surgery in January. While Akam was out of action, Rezar made some appearances on Main Event and teamed with Scott Dawson against Bobby Roode & Chad Gable on the Royal Rumble pre-show.
The team of Chad Gable and Bobby Roode defeated the Authors of Pain and Drake Maverick in a 3-on-2 handicap match tonight to win the titles for the first time. The Authors of Pain held the titles for 35 days.
The AOP had the match won, as Roode and Gable were laid out following the super collider. Gable tried to fight back, but was laid out once again. Drake Maverick wanted to score the win for his team, so the AOP tagged him out and celebrated on the outside. Maverick did Bobby Roode’s pose, but Roode caught him off guard with a crucifix and picked up the win and the titles.
The AOP defeated Seth Rollins for the titles in what essentially was a handicap match back on November 5. Since then, they have been feuding with Roode and Gable. Last week on Raw, They defeated Bobby Roode in an impromptu 3-on-1 handicap match after the AOP destroyed Chad Gable backstage, then were inserted into the match by acting General Manager Baron Corbin.
WWE.com’s updated preview for Monday’s show confirms that Raw Tag Team Champions AOP will defend their titles against Bobby Roode & Chad Gable on the episode. Elias vs. Bobby Lashley is also set.
Roode & Gable defeated AOP in a non-title match this Monday, with Gable jumping off the top rope and pinning Akam with a sunset flip after Akam shoved Roode to the outside. Elias has been feuding with Lashley and teamed with Braun Strowman & Finn Balor against Lashley, Baron Corbin & Drew McIntyre in an elimination tag match on Raw this week.
WWE will follow up on the Strowman injury angle (which was due to Strowman having a legitimate elbow injury) on Monday’s Raw. They’ll also continue building the Ronda Rousey-Nia Jax and Seth Rollins-Dean Ambrose programs ahead of their matches at TLC on December 16.
Monday’s episode is taking place at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Two more Raw vs. SmackDown matches have been officially confirmed for Survivor Series.
With WWE resolving the Raw Tag Team title situation last night, AOP will face SmackDown Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus in a non-title champion vs. champion match at Survivor Series. AOP won the Raw Tag Team titles from Seth Rollins last night, with Rollins wrestling on his own due to the storyline where Dean Ambrose turned against him.
Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles, Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch, and Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura will be the other champion vs. champion matches at Survivor Series.
WWE has also added another traditional Survivor Series elimination match to the card for the pay-per-view. Five tag teams from Raw will face five tag teams from SmackDown. The Usos defeated The New Day to become the captains of the team. The Usos cut a promo after the match offering New Day a spot on their team, which New Day accepted.
Survivor Series is taking place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on November 18.
New Raw tag team champions were crowned tonight on Raw.
AOP defeated Seth Rollins in what was essentially a handicap match to win the titles for the first time tonight during a taping of Monday Night Raw in Manchester, England. Acting Raw General Manager Baron Corbin ordered Rollins and Dean Ambrose to defend the titles tonight, but Ambrose never appeared. Rollins lost after a neckbreaker/powerbomb combination.
After the match, Ambrose walked in through the crowd and asked Rollins if he wanted to know why he attacked him two weeks ago. His response was another dirty deeds DDT.
Rollins and Ambrose held the titles for two weeks, beating Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre in the main event of the 10/22 episode of Raw. Immediately after they won the titles, Ambrose turned on Rollins, laying him out with a dirty deeds DDT on concrete.
With most champions battling their counterparts on the opposite brand, it is possible the AOP may be facing current SmackDown tag team champions The Bar at Survivor Series.
Last night’s Raw featured a show-long storyline where Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler, and Drew McIntyre tried to turn Dean Ambrose against The Shield.
After multiple segments of the heels attempting to manipulate Ambrose into thinking The Shield doesn’t care about him, the episode closed with Ambrose deciding to stay aligned with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. The Shield teamed together in the main event, defeating Baron Corbin & AOP.
Raw also featured appearances by Stephanie McMahon and Triple H for a segment about WWE’s partnership with Hyundai to fight pediatric cancer. In their storylines, Stephanie threatened Baron Corbin with bringing back Kurt Angle as general manager sooner than expected and Triple H sent a message to The Undertaker ahead of next week’s go-home show for Super Show-Down.
Also on Raw, Liv Morgan was injured when getting kicked in the face by Brie Bella during a six-woman tag match, Ziggler & McIntyre defended their Tag Team titles against The Revival, and the build to Super Show-Down continued with another Bobby Lashley vs. Elias match ending in a disqualification.
The WWE’s tag team division got a shakeup Monday as The Authors of Pain made their Raw debut and even shed some weight in doing so.
Escorted by manager Paul Ellering, the former NXT tag team champions (Akam and Rezar) answered an open challenge from Heath Slater and Rhyno, dominating the two and pinning Slater after hitting The Last Chapter after just a few minutes.
Following their win, they exited the ring and put their hands on Ellering’s shoulders as if to tell him he wasn’t coming with them. They walked up the ramp and he remained, shaking his head as he watched.
The two men made their NXT TV debut less than two years ago and defeated Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa for the tag titles, later losing them to SAnitY.
Akam (Sunny Dhinsa) was a standout amateur wrestler in his native Canada, scouted by Gerald Brisco and signing with the company in 2014. Rezar (Gzim Selmani) is a former pro MMA fighter and kickboxer from the Netherlands, and signed with WWE in 2015.
