Rezar says ‘very unprofessional’ Wyatt Sicks incident led to AOP’s WWE exit
A house show incident led to The Authors of Pain departing WWE in early 2025.
Coming off his successful Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship debut, Gzim Selmani (Rezar) was a guest on The Ariel Helwani Show on Tuesday. He opened up about AOP’s WWE release and said it stemmed from something that happened at a house show tour in December 2024. AOP were working matches against The Wyatt Sicks on the loop, and one of the members of The Wyatt Sicks tried to change things up mid-match.
Gzim Selmani talks The Wyatt Sicks and leaving WWE#HelwaniShow pic.twitter.com/WUeTDLQlUf
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) March 17, 2026
“Yeah, there was an incident. Very unprofessional from one of those guys, I don’t know their names,” Selmani said. “I don’t want to go into it too deeply, but there was an incident at one of the Holiday Tours that we did. Somebody tried to switch up the match during the match. And that’s just a no-go for me, especially if you’ve just been in the company for a little bit and we were already there for a long time. You know, you don’t do that. And, yeah, I just had to let somebody know. And that was the end of it.”
Selmani did not name which member of The Wyatt Sicks he was talking about. He said the mid-match change had nothing to do with the actual result of the bout. It concerned certain moves that the Wyatt Sicks member no longer wanted to take, which led to an argument backstage following the match.
“They tried to switch up the match in the middle of the match,” Selmani said. “So, you know, I’m a professional, even if I gotta take a beating in the wrestling ring, I do it. And if you’re going to be a scared little, you know, b*tch, then it’s not my fault, you know? I will let you know backstage.”
Selmani said he’s happy with what AOP accomplished in WWE, and he’s at peace with how their run ended. He was never 100 percent comfortable in pro wrestling and feels shoot fighting organizations like BKFC are the right place for him.
AOP spent two separate stints with WWE. During their latter run, they were part of The Final Testament with Karrion Kross. Selmani told Helwani that he thinks WWE dropped the ball by not giving Kross a bigger push during his time there.
“Same thing with him, man. He got promised so f***ing much,” Selmani said. “They dropped the ball on that guy. Very sad.”
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.