AOP (Akam and Rezar) were not released while injured. There was some speculation online that WWE may have fired them while Rezar was still recovering from an injury, but actually WWE waited until he was fully cleared to return to the ring before releasing both men.
There have been some conflicting reports on what the plans were for AOP prior to the pandemic, with one idea being that they would have been paired back up with Paul Ellering, but nothing has been confirmed at this time. Meltzer had previously reported in his newsletter that Vince McMahon was not a fan of using Paul Ellering on TV and had no intentions of bringing him onto the main roster. Regardless of their direction, it was believed that they would not be returning to Seth Rollins’ side once they were set to return. Much like Austin Theory, AOP was not going to remain a part of Rollins’ stable much longer with shades of Murphy and Rollins separating already being planted.
A majority of the push for AOP as a top tag team was Paul Heyman’s doing, and with Heyman being let go from the creative writing position, it looked like AOP lost their support.
(Credit: f4wonline.com)
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