5 Ups And 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (September 10)

6. Drake And AOP

We gave a complete pass to the pairing of 205 Live GM Drake Maverick with AOP last week, in part because it was tough to assess.

But it’s safe to say now that it’s a total mismatch, and completely confusing. When the Authors of Pain came to Raw after WrestleMania, they were initially led by Paul Ellering, who had guided the duo through NXT. But Akam and Rezar quickly ditched him and decided to go it alone.

After a prolonged absence, AOP returned recently, cutting their own promos. It was pretty rough, and it showed why Ellering was a perfect pairing with them. So they apparently decided to give AOP a manager again, and leading this dominant, villainous tag team would be… the babyface GM of 205 Live.

No, seriously.

Did we miss something here where Maverick turned heel? (And like the proverbial tree in the forest, if no one saw it happen, does it really matter?) Why not just bring Ellering, who is still a WWE ambassador, back into the fold? It wouldn’t be hard.

Instead, we have this total mismatch that has yet to make any sense.