Winning Championships does not always equate success if the act is not booked strong and smart in doing so. Nothing can closer resemble that statement than the way the Authors of Pain have been booked upon arrival on the main roster. I understand that not every talent coming from NXT will be portrayed quite the same or reach success on the main roster in a short period of time. That's not what this argument is about! I'm not expecting every call-up from NXT to immediately win Championships. What I am asking for is for creative to have a plan for these men and women when they end up on Raw or Smackdown. Clearly, WWE had no plans for the Authors of Pain, despite just recently having a run as Raw Tag Team Champions. Even in winning those Titles, they were not booked strongly whatsoever.
I'll go back to the beginning when these two behemoths made their debut in NXT. Akam and Rezar were humble students, green as grass, at the Performance Center, waiting for their chance to make it on NXT Television. In June, 2016 at NXT Takeover: The End, two large men in matching tactical gear attacked American Alpha, who had just lost their NXT Tag Team Titles to The Revival. Seconds later, legendary manager Paul Ellering appeared on the ramp, closing the show, indicating that he was associated with the two men. Ellering, who brought the Road Warriors to success and Tag Team gold several times over, said his two men, Akam and Rezar, would be known as the Authors of Pain.
From that moment on, they dominated everyone in their path in NXT and the first chapter was written. By November, the AOP ran roughshod over every team in NXT and defeated TM-61 to win the second annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic at NXT Takeover: Toronto, bringing an end to their second chapter. In January of 2017, the dangerous duo, with Ellering at the helm, set their sights on NXT Tag Team Champions DIY, who had just defended their Championships against The Revival. AT NXT Takeover: San Antonio, the Authors of Pain defeated DIY to win the NXT Tag Team Titles; and chapter 3 began. They successfully defended the Titles against DIY and The Revival in a Triple Threat Match at NXT Takeover: Orlando in April of that year. At NXT Takeover: Chicago in June, they defeated DIY in a Ladder Match, retaining the Championships. Unrelated, this was the night Tommaso Ciampa did the unthinkable and turned on his DIY partner and long time friend Johnny Gargano.
The Authors of Pain then got into a feud with the stable Sanity and became fan favorites. At Takeover: Brooklyn III in August of 2017, the AOP lost the Titles to Sanity. At War Games later that year, they teamed with Roderick Strong against Sanity and the Undisputed Era in a Triple Threat War Games match, in which the Undisputed Era came out the victors. At Takeover: Philadelphia in January of 2018, they unsuccessfully challenged the Undisputed Era for the Tag Team Titles. At Takeover: New Orleans, the Authors of Pain fought the team of Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong, as well as the Undisputed Era. It was clear they did all they could in NXT and were officially out of contention for the Championships. There was nowhere else to go but up.
Just days later, the Authors of Pain showed up on Raw with Paul Ellering and fans were excited. Here's where it all fell apart! After their match, they dumped Ellering as their manager. After defeating a few jobber teams, they weren't seen on television for weeks. There were many reports questioning the reason for parting ways with Ellering. Rumors stated he did not want to travel but those were false. It was soon reported that WWE management felt he was too old, which is beyond ridiculous. In September of this year, 205 Live General Manager Drake Maverick appeared on Raw at their side and became their new manager, in what was one of the dumbest ideas WWE creative has ever had.
In November, the duo defeated Seth Rollins in a handi-cap match to win the Raw Tag Team Titles, since Rollins' partner Dean Ambrose turned on him weeks before. They did not look strong at all by defeating one man. Though they did defeat Smackdown Tag Team Champions The Bar at Survivor Series, the only thing people remember from that match is Drake Maverick pissing his pants. To make matters worse, this past Raw saw them lose the Tag Team Titles to the makeshift team of Bobby Roode and Chad Gable. The entire booking of the Authors of Pain has been absolutely dreadful. I'm almost at a loss for words at this point. How do you take a team that dominated in NXT and reduce them to jokes? They did the same to The Ascension and The Revival, and Sanity is barely even on television as it is. Again, I'm not asking for NXT talents to be pushed to the moon upon arrival to the main roster, but there should be at least some kind of plan or slow build booking. I honestly don't know how the AOP will recover from this. It's frustrating! What else can I say?
https://youtu.be/njpPFC2RgKg
If you have any further thoughts on this topic, let me know in comments. Heck, let us all know on The WAR Report podcast, every Tuesday at 7PM EST on YouTube, brought to you by tagmeadate.com, the first and only dating site for wrestling fans. Go to askthewarreport@gmail.com or #askthewarreport. For TagMeADate members, our Android and Apple apps are vastly approaching so stay tuned!
https://tagmeadate.com/
Just days later, the Authors of Pain showed up on Raw with Paul Ellering and fans were excited. Here's where it all fell apart! After their match, they dumped Ellering as their manager. After defeating a few jobber teams, they weren't seen on television for weeks. There were many reports questioning the reason for parting ways with Ellering. Rumors stated he did not want to travel but those were false. It was soon reported that WWE management felt he was too old, which is beyond ridiculous. In September of this year, 205 Live General Manager Drake Maverick appeared on Raw at their side and became their new manager, in what was one of the dumbest ideas WWE creative has ever had.
In November, the duo defeated Seth Rollins in a handi-cap match to win the Raw Tag Team Titles, since Rollins' partner Dean Ambrose turned on him weeks before. They did not look strong at all by defeating one man. Though they did defeat Smackdown Tag Team Champions The Bar at Survivor Series, the only thing people remember from that match is Drake Maverick pissing his pants. To make matters worse, this past Raw saw them lose the Tag Team Titles to the makeshift team of Bobby Roode and Chad Gable. The entire booking of the Authors of Pain has been absolutely dreadful. I'm almost at a loss for words at this point. How do you take a team that dominated in NXT and reduce them to jokes? They did the same to The Ascension and The Revival, and Sanity is barely even on television as it is. Again, I'm not asking for NXT talents to be pushed to the moon upon arrival to the main roster, but there should be at least some kind of plan or slow build booking. I honestly don't know how the AOP will recover from this. It's frustrating! What else can I say?
https://youtu.be/njpPFC2RgKg
If you have any further thoughts on this topic, let me know in comments. Heck, let us all know on The WAR Report podcast, every Tuesday at 7PM EST on YouTube, brought to you by tagmeadate.com, the first and only dating site for wrestling fans. Go to askthewarreport@gmail.com or #askthewarreport. For TagMeADate members, our Android and Apple apps are vastly approaching so stay tuned!
https://tagmeadate.com/
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