8 Ups And 5 Downs From WWE Raw (Nov 25)

5. AOP Finally Arrives

AOP Hawkins Ryder
WWE.com

Months of pre-taped promos finally gave way Monday to the Authors of Pain’s first televised tag match in forever.

AOP made short work of former Raw Tag Team Champions Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins, everyone’s favorite whipping boys. In this case, there was at least a bit on continuity, as Akam & Rezar assaulted the duo backstage last week, knocking them out of their tag title match.

But Hawkins & Rider didn’t get a chance to exact any revenge, with Hawkins falling to a Last Chapter seconds into the match, before AOP hit both with a Super Collider and then nailing a powerbomb/neckbreaker combo on Hawkins for the pin.

The squash was what it needed to be: short, quick and impactful. Fans didn’t really respond, however, and WWE would be wise to consider a mouthpiece for the team. While both showed in taped interviews that that they can talk a little, they need someone to really sell the package – and no, not Drake Maverick again.

Their involvement at the end of Raw could give purpose to AOP, and if they actually end up aligned with Seth Rollins, then that could accomplish the goal of giving them a mouthpiece.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.