The former Authors of Pain (AOP) discuss their name change and how much it means for Paul Ellering to give them his blessing to take a name inspired by the Legion of Doom.
Paul Ellering will forever be linked to Hawk and Animal, the Road Warriors, before the stable splintered off into just a triumvirate of Paul, Hawk, and Animal, Paul was the manager of a larger stable known as the Legion of Doom. Eventually, Hawk and Animal would you go over to WWE in 1990 and once again take the name Legion of Doom for the WWE exploits. Paul would join them in 1992, once again making that team whole.
In 2016, Paul Ellering helped a new team come to their own as he became the manager of the Authors of Pain. While Paul would not join the former Akam and Rezar on the main roster, the unit is once again reunited for the upcoming WES, Wrestling Entertainment Series debut show on July 9.
Now, they are known as the Legion of Pain and they recently spoke with Fightful about the name change and how special it was to receive Paul Ellering’s blessing.
Fightful: You guys saying that you're on the same page makes me wonder, do you guys like the Authors of Pain name puns? When we would ask fans for questions, we would get things like, ‘When is the book coming out?’ Are you sick of hearing of those?
SUNNY: “We’re kind of like cavemen. We don’t really look at anything online, so it doesn’t get to us ever. We never really pay attention to anything that’s going on online. We’re trying to be better at it, honestly. But when it comes to social media and all that, we’re old school. Took me ten minutes to get on this Zoom call.”
Fightful: The new name is natural. Legion of pain, you got the connection with Paul Ellering, the comparisons [to the Legion of Doom/Road Warriors] were there.
SUNNY: “That name is Paul’s blessing. He wanted the name for a long time. That’s his call. He’s part of the team. We’re once again a unit. The band’s back together. We’re just excited, man. We’re excited to be with Paul. It’s gonna be different.”
In the past, Sunny and Gzim have opened up about how genuine their connection with Paul Ellering is. Learn more here.
