10 WWE Gimmicks That Are Broken
8. The Authors Of Pain
Paul Ellering is great as AOP’s manager, a hammy, over the top caricature with an evil sneer and unlimited pent up nervous energy. He’s like if Peter Cushing suddenly came back to life to oversee a tag team, a tag team that dressed in paramilitary gear and only spoke in Albanian and Punjabi. Hey, given his appearance in Rogue One, it's not impossible.
Therein lies the problem with The Authors of Pain – we don’t really know why they do what they do, or who they really are. It’s hard enough to distinguish which one is Akam and which one is Rezar at times, but we never really get a good idea as to why they dress like characters from Army of Two, or why Paul Ellering is constantly talking about books.
Their finisher is ‘The Last Chapter’, Ellering conducts vague monologues about destiny and pages, and this all creates an overwhelming sense that The Authors’ gimmick is somewhat muddled. They like to inflict pain, but there also seems to be something going on in the background that explains why these two come out to the ring in Shield cosplay.
With time, it could work wonders, but some of the intricacies of the gimmick need clearing up before Akam and Rezar can really take off.