Tag: Rezar

Rezar says WWE ‘wasn’t really my world’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Rezar is proud of what he accomplished in WWE, but professional wrestling was never really the ideal fit for him.

The former Authors of Pain member made his Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship debut last weekend with a knockout victory over Daniel Curtin. In the aftermath of the fight, Rezar (real name Gzim Selmani) appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show and addressed whether he considered other options in wrestling after AOP were released by WWE in 2025.

“Obviously we always leave the door open, but for me, it was clear. I had to go back to combat sports and do my thing,” he said.

AOP had two separate stints with WWE, winning gold in NXT and on the main roster. Their exit in February 2025 came after an incident with The Wyatt Sicks that took place at a Holiday Tour house show.

“Yes, of course,” Rezar responded when Helwani asked if he’s happy with the time he spent in WWE. “We were World Raw Tag Team Champions. Did some crazy things with Seth Rollins in a group, with Paul Ellering, with Karrion Kross and Scarlett.

“We did a lot of crazy things, and we met good people. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t really my world. I was never 100 percent comfortable. And I need to be fighting. I need to be having that real rush And now I found my home in BKFC.”

Rezar already had a background in martial arts when he was initially scouted by WWE. He started to enjoy wrestling during AOP’s NXT run, but it was tough adjusting to the business. Rezar feels not having prior experience in the ring worked against him when he first joined the Performance Center.

“Against me. They didn’t like me backstage in the beginning, especially the wrestlers who were already wrestling for like 10, 15 years and finally got their way to the Performance Center,” he said. “They didn’t respect it. They didn’t like having guys that weren’t wrestlers or didn’t pay their dues, as they say, in the wrestling business, in little bingo halls and stuff. They didn’t like that. But, yeah, what can I do? I didn’t beg them to go there, so they wanted me.”

Rezar noted that, after his first BKFC win, he’ll be back in training next week. He’s hoping that his next fight will take place this summer. In combat sports, Rezar feels like his destiny is in his own hands. That wasn’t the case in pro wrestling.

“That’s how the business works. Some people get hurt, some people do different things,” Rezar said. “They switch up writers all the time, they switch up producers all the time, and they put other people in control of power and of creative and stuff like that. So nothing is in your hands there backstage.

“And now it is. Now it’s in my hands. You know, I do it in the ring. And, yeah, the outcome that you saw two days ago is going to happen many more times.”

Rezar says ‘very unprofessional’ Wyatt Sicks incident led to AOP’s WWE exit

Posted on by Joseph Currier

A house show incident led to The Authors of Pain departing WWE in early 2025.

Coming off his successful Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship debut, Gzim Selmani (Rezar) was a guest on The Ariel Helwani Show on Tuesday. He opened up about AOP’s WWE release and said it stemmed from something that happened at a house show tour in December 2024. AOP were working matches against The Wyatt Sicks on the loop, and one of the members of The Wyatt Sicks tried to change things up mid-match.

“Yeah, there was an incident. Very unprofessional from one of those guys, I don’t know their names,” Selmani said. “I don’t want to go into it too deeply, but there was an incident at one of the Holiday Tours that we did. Somebody tried to switch up the match during the match. And that’s just a no-go for me, especially if you’ve just been in the company for a little bit and we were already there for a long time. You know, you don’t do that. And, yeah, I just had to let somebody know. And that was the end of it.”

Selmani did not name which member of The Wyatt Sicks he was talking about. He said the mid-match change had nothing to do with the actual result of the bout. It concerned certain moves that the Wyatt Sicks member no longer wanted to take, which led to an argument backstage following the match.

“They tried to switch up the match in the middle of the match,” Selmani said. “So, you know, I’m a professional, even if I gotta take a beating in the wrestling ring, I do it. And if you’re going to be a scared little, you know, b*tch, then it’s not my fault, you know? I will let you know backstage.”

Selmani said he’s happy with what AOP accomplished in WWE, and he’s at peace with how their run ended. He was never 100 percent comfortable in pro wrestling and feels shoot fighting organizations like BKFC are the right place for him.

AOP spent two separate stints with WWE. During their latter run, they were part of The Final Testament with Karrion Kross. Selmani told Helwani that he thinks WWE dropped the ball by not giving Kross a bigger push during his time there.

“Same thing with him, man. He got promised so f***ing much,” Selmani said. “They dropped the ball on that guy. Very sad.”

Former WWE wrestler wins BKFC debut by KO

Posted on by Bryan Rose

A former WWE wrestler scored a major win in his bare knuckle fighting debut.

Gizm Selmani, formerly Rezar of the Authors of Pain, won a second round KO over Dan Curtin on Saturday. In his post-fight interview, he laid out his goals and mentioned his pro wrestling past.

“I’m here to knock mother*******s out anywhere in the mother******g world. Come get it, mother******s,” he said in a obscenity-laced promo. “I’m the motherf****r that came from WWE to this place. I fought my a** off and I’m here. “

Rezar is a former MMA fighter amassing a 4-2 record, losing his last fight to Daniel Gallemore back in 2014 at Bellator 130. He signed with the WWE the following year and was soon put in a team with Akam as the Authors of Pain. They achieved success in NXT and on the main roster, holding the Raw Tag Team titles before being released in 2020.

When Triple H became CCO of WWE, they were brought back in 2023 and reunited with Paul Ellering to form a new group consisting of themselves, Karrion Kross, and Scarlett. After losing to Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits at WrestleMania XL and to Fraxiom on an episode of NXT, they were released from their contracts in early 2025.

Daily Update: Rob Van Dam, John Cena, Rezar

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • We’ve got a giant new issue of the Observer out today covering the Cena and Santo retirements as well as all the big events from the past week:
  • John Cena and El Hijo del  Santo’s retirement shows and how they are so different
  • A look back at both’s careers and places in history
  • Where Santo went wrong
  • Key people who saved John Cena’s career
  • Why he never turned heel years ago
  • Marketing of Cena as The GOAT
  • How Cena ranks with the biggest draws in wrestling history
  • Update on WBD’s potential sales to Netflix or Paramount, what the deals entail and how this  all affects AEW
  • Dwayne Johnson and his Golden Globe nomination
  • Odds for upcoming pro wrestling bouts
  • 1,000,000th fan attends CMLL pro wrestling at Arena Mexico alone.  Why this has never happened before, and the absolutely staggering part of the story that nobody talks about
  • UFC 323 coverage of the last UFC show on PPV for at least seven years
  • A look at NXT Deadline
  • A look at ROH Final Battle
  • A look at TNA Final Resolution
  • A look at the career of Steve “Mr. Electricity” Regal, death of territories, the shocking win over the Road Warriors and holding world titles in the AWA and NWA in the 80s.
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for all the TV shows over this past week
  • A look at major promotions joining together for different shows in 2026
  • A look at last week’s big shows at Arena Mexico, both a hell of a Friday and a big Tuesday with Bad Bunny under a Mistico mask in the front row
  • Key CMLL talent banged up
  • All Japan tag team tournament ends with a former rugby star from New Zealand and former member of the Harlem Globetrotters against each other.
  • NOAH’s big start of the year show
  • New wrestlers starting at NOAH including the brother of a UFC fighter
  • New Japan tag team tournament final standings and results
  • Big awards being announced this week
  • Actress who played Hall of Fame pro wrestler on a Netflix series wins major award for her performance
  • Where did the original star ratings in Mexico rating matches come from
  • Hulk Hogan album being re-released
  • Notes on AEW Worlds End
  • Andrade makes claims about what happened with AEW and WWE
  • Advance ticket sales for all the AEW and WWE upcoming shows
  • Lots more on Trump UFC event at the White House
  • UFC schedule
  • More on the Ali Act and attempting to change and subvert it
  • Dana White talks Francis Ngannou now that he wants to return
  • The most interest in buying tickets to a pro wrestling or UFC show in history took place this past week
  • Lots more on the two lawsuits going against Vince McMahon and WWE
  • The WWE TV schedule for this coming week
  • Big PPV main event match that fell through from earlier this year

This Week’s Back Issue

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Wednesday Update

WWE

  • WWE uploaded the full Joe Hendry vs. Leon Slater vs. Dion Lennox vs. Myles Borne main event from NXT last night. Slater won the match, earning a title shot against NXT Champion Oba Femi at New Year’s Evil.
  • Cody Rhodes announced that a new episode of his “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast will premiere tomorrow with John Cena joining him as the guest: “For the FIRST TIME since retiring from the ring…@JohnCena joins us on #WhatDoYouWannaTalkAbout TOMORROW.”
  • Cena acknowledged Kevin Owens by sharing a photo of them shaking hands while Owens was in the crowd for Cena’s last match.
  • Mark Hendry joined Undertaker & Michelle McCool on a new episode of Six Feet Under.
  • Esquire shared a first look at Dave Bautista’s next movie “The Wrecking Crew,” which Bautista stars in alongside Jason Momoa. Here is the description for the film:
    • Estranged half-brothers Jonny and James reunite after their father’s mysterious death. As they search for the truth, buried secrets reveal a conspiracy threatening to tear their family apart.
  • Jake Paul unveiled the Hulk Hogan-inspired gear he’s wearing for his boxing match against Anthony Joshua on Netflix this Friday.

Other Wrestling

  • Kazuchika Okada, who supports Manchester City in the Premier League, visited their Etihad Stadium while AEW is in the United Kingdom.
  • Ortiz will compete for Limitless Wrestling at their Limitless Rumble event in Lewiston, Maine on Friday, January 16. His tag team partner Eddie Kingston has also been announced for the show.
  • The Wrestling Classic interviewed Wheeler Yuta.
  • Megan Bayne & Joey Janela vs. JetSpeed (Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey) has been announced for Superpower Slam in New York City on Sunday, February 1. The event is being put on by Orange Crush magazine, Game Changer Wrestling, and Jersey Championship Wrestling to benefit the neurodivergent community.
  • Rob Van Dam told TMZ’s Inside the Ring podcast that he has recovered from the broken heels he suffered in April:
    • I’m good now. I’m good. It’s been like – I was just figuring out, it’s been, I guess, six months or so. I haven’t wrestled yet. I do have a match in Australia in February. That’ll be the test. But yeah, I’m much better.
  • Paul London is the latest entrant confirmed for MLW Battle Riot VIII in Florida on Thursday, January 29.
  • Gzim Selmani (former WWE wrestler Rezar of The Authors of Pain) has signed with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. His first fight for the promotion is expected to take place in February.
  • Braun Strowman and comedian Brad Williams appeared on a new episode of Something’s Burning with Bert Kreischer.

WWE teases return of Authors of Pain in SmackDown vignette

Posted on by Ethan Renner

WWE has teased the return of The Authors of Pain and the group aligning with Karrion Kross & Scarlett. 

During a Kross & Scarlett vignette on Friday’s SmackDown episode, an image of Akam, Rezar, and Paul Ellering in silhouette was shown. Kross used the word “Authors” in the promo, heavily implying the group’s return to the company and an alliance with Kross & Scarlett. 

Akam & Rezar are former NXT Tag Team Champions, winners of the 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in NXT, and former Raw Tag Team Champions. They debuted in NXT in 2016 with former Road Warriors manager Ellering, and were heavily pushed in the Road Warriors mold as a monster tag team. 

The group was called up to WWE’s main roster in April 2018, where Ellering was quickly replaced by Drake Maverick as the manager. After a Raw Tag Team title reign and alliance with Seth Rollins, Akam & Rezar were taken off television after an injury to Akam in March 2020, before both were released from their contracts in September 2020. 

Fightful reported earlier this year that Akam & Rezar had re-signed with the company as early as 2022, and that travel for the group had been planned as early as May 2023. Fightful also reported this week that the group’s return to WWE television was imminent.

Authors of Pain launching new Wrestling Entertainment Series promotion

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The tag team formerly known as The Authors of Pain are launching a new wrestling promotion next month.

Gzim Selmani (the former Rezar) and Sunny Dhinsa (the former Akam) have announced that their new Wrestling Entertainment Series promotion will launch with a show taking place at Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England on Saturday, June 4. The event will include Selmani & Dhinsa’s first match since they were released by WWE in September 2020.

Paul Ellering, who was AOP’s manager in NXT, will manage Selmani & Dhinsa at the inaugural Wrestling Entertainment Series event.

The show will be available to watch live via Fite TV.

“Some of the biggest names in professional wrestling will all be announced very soon for this celebratory kick-off event. WES already has an action-packed schedule in place for the remainder of 2022 with several yet-to-be-revealed dates across Europe & the Middle East,” a press release said.

“WES will also see the in-ring return of the Selmani & Dhinsa with legendary manager Paul Ellering by their side. The duo is set to re-establish themselves as one of the most dominant forces in the tag team wrestling division.”

AOP are former Raw Tag Team Champions and NXT Tag Team Champions.

Selmani is the co-founder of an NFT company named BullApePlanet.

AOP’s Akam and Rezar released by WWE

Posted on by Bryan Rose

AOP, the team of Akam and Rezar, have been released from their WWE contracts.

WWE’s website posted the following message: “WWE has come to terms on the release of Akam and Rezar (AOP). We wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”

The team has not been seen on WWE television since Rezar suffered a bicep injury early this year.

Akam and Rezar were put together as a team on NXT starting in 2016 under the name The Authors of Pain, managed by Paul Ellering. They won the 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, defeating TM-61 in the finals. They also won the NXT Tag Team titles on January 28, 2017 at TakeOver: San Antonio, defeating DIY.

The Authors of Pain made their debut on Raw on April 9, 2018, defeating Heath Slater and Rhyno. They immediately dropped Ellering as their manager. A number of changes took place in the following months, including shortening their name to AOP and adopting Drave Maverick as their manager. They won the Raw Tag Team titles on November 5, 2018, defeating Seth Rollins in a handicap match after Rollins’ tag team partner Dean Ambrose turned on him. They would lose the titles a month later to the team of Chad Gable and Bobby Roode.

In January 2019, Akam underwent knee surgery, keeping the team dormant for most of the year. Upon their return in November, Maverick was dropped as their manager and the team formed an alliance with Seth Rollins. That was dropped when Rezar suffered the bicep injury.

AOP’s Rezar tears right biceps in WWE Raw match

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: WWE

On Thursday’s Wrestling Observer Radio (subscription needed), Dave Meltzer confirmed that Rezar did indeed tear his right biceps during a match on Monday’s WWE Raw.

Rezar was in an eight-man match with Seth Rollins, Murphy, and AOP partner Akam against the Street Profits and Viking Raiders and during the match, Montez Ford hit Rezar with a crossbody which is where the tear occurred.

He continued to work the rest of the match with one arm as his right arm dangled, something Bryan Alvarez noted on the post-Raw Wrestling Observer Radio, leading him to speculate the biceps was torn.

As of this writing, WWE has yet to formally announce the injury. Meltzer assumed Rezar would be taken off TV as he recovers, speculating he could be out 6-to-8 months if he needs surgery and several months if he doesn’t.

The 25-year-old born Gzim Selmani signed with WWE in 2015 and spent four years in NXT with Akam (Sunny Dhinsa) before getting called up to the main roster in 2018. The team missed a chunk of time in 2019 when Akam was recovering from a leg injury.

Authors of Pain join WWE Raw roster

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Another post-WWE Draft roster addition has been confirmed.

After they weren’t selected on either night of this year’s draft, WWE announced today that The Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar) have joined the Raw roster. 

WWE began hyping the return of AOP on the September 16 episode of Raw. They haven’t had a televised match since taking part in the battle royal at Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia this June. That match was the first time Akam had wrestled since undergoing knee surgery in January.

The Viking Raiders won the Raw Tag Team titles from Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode this Monday. Ziggler & Roode were then drafted to SmackDown.

Here are the updated rosters for Raw and SmackDown:

Raw —

  • Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch
  • The O.C. (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson)
  • Drew McIntyre
  • Randy Orton
  • Ricochet
  • Bobby Lashley
  • Kevin Owens
  • Natalya
  • Raw Tag Team Champions The Viking Raiders (Ivar & Erik)
  • The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)
  • EC3
  • Eric Young
  • Sin Cara
  • Universal Champion Seth Rollins
  • Charlotte Flair
  • Andrade (w/ Zelina Vega)
  • Women’s Tag Team Champions Asuka & Kairi Sane
  • Rusev
  • Aleister Black
  • Cedric Alexander
  • Humberto Carrillo
  • Erick Rowan
  • Buddy Murphy
  • Jinder Mahal
  • 24/7 Champion R-Truth
  • Samoa Joe
  • Akira Tozawa
  • Shelton Benjamin
  • Rey Mysterio
  • Titus O’Neil
  • Liv Morgan
  • The IIconics (Peyton Royce & Billie Kay)
  • Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins
  • Mojo Rawley
  • No Way Jose
  • Sarah Logan
  • AOP (Akam & Rezar)

SmackDown —

  • Roman Reigns
  • “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt
  • Sasha Banks
  • Braun Strowman
  • Lacey Evans
  • SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder)
  • The Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado)
  • Heavy Machinery (Otis & Tucker)
  • Apollo Crews
  • Drew Gulak
  • Heath Slater
  • Tamina
  • The B-Team (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas)
  • WWE Champion Brock Lesnar
  • The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E & Xavier Woods)
  • Daniel Bryan
  • SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley
  • Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura (w/ Sami Zayn)
  • Ali
  • Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
  • Carmella
  • The Miz
  • King Corbin
  • Shorty Gable
  • Elias
  • Alexa Bliss
  • Nikki Cross
  • Cesaro
  • Luke Harper
  • Fire & Desire (Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville)
  • Dana Brooke
  • Drake Maverick

WWE Main Event results: Six-man tag, Rezar vs. No Way Jose

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Two fairly bland matches this week with Rezar beating No Way Jose in the opener and The B-Team & Tyler Breeze notching up another win over Jinder Mahal & The Singhs in a rematch of last week’s main event.

**********

Rezar (w/ Drake Maverick) defeated No Way Jose (4:26)

On the surface, this match didn’t feel all that different from something that would have appeared on the old WWF Superstars: you had the heavyset villain complete with a milquetoast manager and the babyface trying to pull off a short-sighted gimmick in whacky colored tights. 

What was different, though, was the length. This ought to have been a squash match that showed off Rezar’s strength and potential for dominance. Instead, he beat up Jose, who only got some brief hope and spent more than half the match using rest holds.

After making much more of this than they needed to, Rezar ended this with a big boot and a chokeslam in the middle of the ring. The win leaves Rezar undefeated as a main roster singles competitor.

The B-Team & Tyler Breeze defeated Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers (4:34)

This was a rematch of last week’s Main Event match and was almost move for move the same with exactly the same outcome. Breeze, who was the standout again here, is so undervalued at this point that it would do him no harm to hit the reboot button.

Mahal was once again notable by his lack of in-ring presence. He was in and out quickly — and the babyfaces made short work of him in order to clear their path to beat down the Singh Brothers. It’s clear that Sunil and Samir are improving, slowly but surely.

At the finish, the ring was empty with Sunil looking like he was going to finish off a prone Breeze. But Breeze was playing possum and, just as he did last week, sprung up as Sunil was running the ropes and nailed him with The Beauty Shot for the win.

WWE Main Event results: Rezar in singles action

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: With Akam recovering from a knee injury, Rezar performed solo this week, defeating Tyler Breeze in impressive fashion. Mojo Rawley and No Way Jose also went toe-to-toe, with Rawley grabbing a rare win.

**********

Byron Saxton and Renee Young led the announce team this week alongside Percy Watson with no word as to the whereabouts of Vic Joseph or Nigel McGuinness.

Rezar (w/ Drake Maverick) defeated Tyler Breeze (5:29)

This wasn’t like one of those 1992 WWF Superstars squash matches that I’ve been watching on the WWE Network this week. Breeze played the plucky babyface and got quite a few chances to take the match, but Rezar came through by using a chokeslam for the win.

Back in May, AOP made their main roster debut on this show, and other than a match against Titus O’Neil on Raw a few months back, this was Rezar’s only other singles bout on the main roster to date. Rezar looked impressive here, but Breeze a played a part in making him appear so strong.

After it looked like Rezar had it all sewn up, Breeze managed to reverse a powerbomb attempt into a sleeper. They looked like they lost their way slightly at the end when Rezar couldn’t get Breeze in position for the finish — and when he did the chokeslam was a little messy. That said, if used right, they have a big guy in Rezar who could really get over.

Mojo Rawley defeated No Way Jose (6:41)

This was a little more muted than the normal Jose matches with the conga line providing a soundtrack to the match. It ended in defeat for Jose, but gave Rawley his first win in 2019, making it his only one in the last four months.

Jose had tagged up with Zack Ryder last week — and they actually looked like a team that could work. They were slick together and the conga line joined in with Ryder’s “woo” fist pumps. Ryder was nowhere to be seen this week, though, and Jose garnered less reaction when he came out.

It was a fairly tepid 50-50 match until the finish. Jose hit a crossbody from the second rope on Rawley and then got him up in a fireman’s carry position, but when Rawley fought out, he hit his shoulder block on Jose.

This got Jose dazed enough for Rawley to lock in and hit a sit-out Alabama slam for the win.