WWE: Authors of Pain Return Plans Update, Backstage Update on Ilja Dragunov Injury Angle, Becky Lynch on Career Future

Authors of Pain WWE Return Plans Status Update

As noted before, WWE is currently believed to have brought back the Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar) and signed them to a contract in 2022. Authors of Pain were featured in the official program book for this past November’s Survivor Series WarGames 2023 event alongside Gallus as the only talents from WWE’s developmental system in the book.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that WWE officials currently have plans in place for AoP to make their official return to WWE television soon and for their SmackDown brand.

It was reported that AoP’s manager Paul Ellering is also currently planned to be joining them for their official return to WWE programming.

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Backstage Update on Ilja Dragunov Injury Angle at Tuesday’s NXT Show

This past Tuesday’s NXT show featured Ilja Dragunov suffering a head-related injury during his match against Ridge Holland that was quickly discovered to have been only for storyline purposes and not a legitimate one.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that several people within WWE had felt that the injury angle was too controversial to do over Holland’s bad reputation but this was something that WWE officials still went ahead with in the end.

It was reported that everyone backstage seemed happy with how things went down and the camera work for the segment with producers being pleased the most with the audience’s reaction to the angle.

In regards to the crowd at the show, it was reported that those in attendance became aware that Dragunov’s injury was not a legitimate one due to WWE started their next set of NXT tapings immediately following the segment.

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Becky Lynch on Future of Her Wrestling Career

A recent episode of the Strutting From Gorilla podcast featured Becky Lynch as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Lynch’s thoughts about her wanting to remain in WWE for the rest of her wrestling career.

“Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Growing up, WWE is what I watched, it’s what I loved, it’s the reason I became a professional wrestler. Now, having been in it, I love it. I love the people, I love the audience, and I love being able to being an important part of change. I love that I get to continue to drive that and that my voice matters in WWE. I feel listened to, and I feel we’ve been able to change the landscape of women’s wrestling forever. That feels very special to me. It’s my home. It’s where I was born as a professional wrestler in many ways in terms of my influence, and it’s where I’ll retire.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com