WWE Raw: Drake Maverick Is Now Leading The Authors Of Pain (Seriously)

When the Authors of Pain joined WWE Raw after dominating NXT for so long, they immediately cut ties with Paul Ellering, who led them to much of their success. Tonight in Columbus, they added a new manager, and let’s just say he was the last person you would have expected.

Tonight on WWE Raw, Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler ambushed The Revival backstage, partially at the suggestion of Acting GM Baron Corbin, and they stole away Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder’s Raw Tag Team Championship opportunity against the B Team. As expected, Ziggler and McIntyre followed through on their devious plan, winning the Tag Team Championships to inject new life into a previously dry division.

The Authors of Pain were supposed to be the big stars of the Raw Tag Team Division after being called up from NXT, but they hadn’t done much in the months since the Superstar Shakeup. Their main program was with Titus Worldwide, and it didn’t really do Rezar or Akam any favors.

On the segment right after McIntyre and Ziggler won the Tag Team Championships, we saw AOP make their entrance to the ring for a match against two random jobbers, which they easily won.

However, the story is that they were given a new manager, and that manager is…Drake Maverick.

Yes, Rockstar Spud, who is the current GM of 205 Live, is the new manager of the Authors of Pain. And while he’s certainly no Paul Ellering, I am extremely excited about this move. Yes, it’s random, but I know how talented Maverick is, and I firmly believe he can make this work. In fact, there aren’t many realistic options who you could say would be better than Maverick before giving him a chance.

The visual of seeing Maverick, the friendly and hard-working 205 Live GM, in between the menacing Rezar and Akam while wearing full tactical gear is something to get used to. On 205, he is the consummate professional and an incredibly good GM who does everything he can to promote the show.

Now, he’s the evil heel genius who will do whatever it takes to promote the Authors of Pain, managing them to Raw Tag Team Title glory.

This is surely an out-of-nowhere angle from WWE, but I love Maverick and am excited to see where this goes. Watching AOP feud against Ziggler and McIntyre eventually could be great, especially with Maverick now in the mix.

I’m not gonna lie, though, this is going to take some getting used to. And I wonder how 205 Live’s roster feels about this…(I’m sure Drew Gulak will have words!)