In a new interview, Rezar of The Authors has claimed a backstage incident contributed to his WWE release in February 2025. The tag team specialist would accept responsibility without detailing the event, but seemed to excuse himself by noting that something had led up to the situation. Subsequently, the Authors of Pain were no longer booked for shows, making it clear they didn’t have a long-term future with WWE.
“There was something that happened backstage. After that, we weren’t getting called on any shows anymore, so the message was clear … I’ll take responsibility for it, I don’t care, but obviously, there’s something that led up to that situation.” – Rezar
31-year-old Rezar, real name Gzim Selmani, took up judo as a child and eventually pursued a career in MMA. However, after going 4-2, he signed with WWE in 2015 and debuted in NXT in 2016 as one-half of The Authors of Pain with Akam, managed by Paul Ellering. They dominated by winning the 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and the NXT Tag Team Championship in 2017, and were promoted to Raw in 2018, where they soon captured the Raw Tag Team Championship. And while they were released in 2020, somewhat surprisingly, they were re-signed in 2024 and included in The Final Testament faction.
