The Authors Of Pain (& Paul Ellering) Return On WWE SmackDown Alongside Karrion Kross

WWE's tag team division can expect a bit more pain in the locker room.

Akam and Rezar, collectively known as the Authors of Pain (AOP), returned to WWE on Friday's episode of "WWE SmackDown." They, along with Karrion Kross and Scarlett, crashed Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits' "All Mighty New Year" segment. After Lashley declared himself for the Royal Rumble, Kross and Scarlett appeared on the ramp, and stared devilishly on as AOP attacked Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins from behind. Their beatdown ended with a Super Collider from AOP, which cleared the path for Kross to deliver a gruesome slam to Lashley. The Authors of Pain, along with their manager WWE Hall of Famer Paul Ellering, accompanied Kross and Scarlet to the ramp following their destruction.

AOP's WWE return had been speculated multiple times in 2023, with the most recent reports stating that Akam and Rezar were expected to return sooner rather than later. Their association with Kross was also teased on the December 22 episode of "SmackDown", where three figures were referred to Kross as "authors". The pair quietly resigned with WWE in August 2022, and there is no confirmed explanation for the year and a half-long gap between their signing and their reappearance.

The two are one-time "NXT" Tag Team Champions, one-time winners of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, and one-time WWE Raw Tag Team Champions. Before Friday's installment of "SmackDown", AOP was last seen on the March 9, 2020 episode of "WWE Raw," where they aided Buddy Matthews and Seth Rollins in a winning effort against The Viking Raiders and, interestingly enough, the Street Profits.