The Authors of Pain and Paul Ellering are returning to television in a new faction with Karrion Kross and Scarlett.

In a vignette which aired on last night’s episode of Smackdown, a silhouette of Ellering in the middle flanked by Adam and Rezar was displayed as Kross narrated the promo, even dropping the word Authors in the middle.

Kross and Scarlett are being repackaged for this new faction, with the one-minute promo showing Kross taking out several people along the way and then Scarlett asked if we “see the vision,” at which point the silhouette of AOP flashed across the screen.

Authors of Pain have been signed to a WWE deal for quite a while but never used. They are former NXT and Raw Tag Team champions who were released from WWE in September 2020.

ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴇᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠɪꜱɪᴏɴ? ⏳@realKILLERkross @Lady_Scarlett13 #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/2CZTelAw6X

— WWE (@WWE) December 23, 2023