Triple H played a huge role in developing some huge stars of the company back in NXT. ‘The Game’ also had immense contribution in the formation of The Authors of Pain (AOP), who were one of the best tag teams in NXT history. Akam and Rezar were released from WWE in September 2020. While they haven’t wrestled lately, the former tag team champions are reportedly set to enter the ring for the first time in over two years.
AOP member reveals what Triple H said to them
The former WWE stars recently spoke about their relationship with The Game during an interview with Lucha Libre Online. Rezar, real name Gzim Selmani, noted that Triple H was a massive supporter of the tandem right from their initial days in the developmental brand. Hunter urged them to be “monsters” in the ring, and the WWE Hall of Famer’s inspiring words pumped them to showcase their true potential inside the squared circle.
“One thing I remember he said, I think it was maybe our second match in NXT TV, he said, ‘You guys look like monsters, so be monsters,’ and we became monsters in the ring,” stated Rezar. “Like, he gave us good motivation; always, right before we left, we shook each others’ hands and hugged, and he always gave us a little motivational speech just to fire us up a little bit more, and it worked.”
Triple H seemingly had the expertise in the art of producing wrestling content, and Akam said that AOP picked up several fundamental aspects of the business from the retired WWE legend:
“We learned a lot from Hunter. The biggest thing like, me and Gzim, we were very new to TV, you know what I mean? Producing TV, and Hunter is just so good at producing TV, all the angles, the storytelling, the emotions, the facials. You know, it was such a big part of how he taught us and how he held our finger pretty much and brought us along and taught us every step of the way. It is something that I can hold on forever.” [5:47 – 6:17]
The two-time tag team champion considered himself lucky to have gained some invaluable wrestling knowledge directly from Triple H. He added that not many talents these days have a similarly comprehensive learning experience:
“If there’s a talent somewhere else, they will never have that kind of opportunity that we had to work directly with Hunter and learn from one of the best performers of all time; you know what I mean? That was a huge thing me and Gzim both learned, and it was directly from Hunter,” stated Akam, aka Sunny Dhinsa.
