AOP News: "Retirement," Overeem, WES, MMA, More (Patreon)

Fightful spoke with AOP ahead the postponed WES show.

Gzim, the former Rezar, told us that Alistair Overeem was a big part of him getting into MMA, and he thought that Overeem would be a good fit in pro wrestling despite Overeem's less than nice comments about it in the past. Overeem thought it made sense and they came to terms on a deal.

Both Gzim and Sunny Dhinsa are open to competing in MMA in the future, and Selmani was actually a top heavyweight prospect before heading to WWE. They had MMA offers and Olympics possibly ahead of them, respectively, but said WWE was too big and a perfect situation to pass up. Gzim confirmed that he's had MMA and wrestling offers over the last two years, but passed them up for now.

The two say that they had decided they were going to leave WWE before they were released. There were creative plans passed their way that they weren't keen on, so when the release happened, it didn't come as a surprised to them. They saw it as a blessing as the two years they had off were a dangerous time in the world. They were waiting for the right opportunity to come back, and confirmed that they'd told other promoters that they weren't interested in wrestling.

The Legion of Pain name came with Paul Ellering's blessing, and they say it was something he wanted to do long ago. They also confirmed he was hoping to joing them on Raw, and rumors he didn't want to travel are false. He's going to be a part of WES, as well.