Rezar

Professional

Birthday June 16, 1994

Birth Sign Gemini

Birthplace Amsterdam, Netherlands

Age 29 years old

Nationality Albania

Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)

Weight 265 lb (120 kg; 18 st 13 lb)

#25977 Most Popular

0

{{Infobox person

}} {{Infobox martial artist | child=yes

1994

}} }} Gzim Selmani (born 16 June 1994) is a Dutch professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist of Kosovo Albanian descent currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Rezar as a member of Authors of Pain (with Akam), a subgroup of The Final Testament stable.

Gzim Selmani was born on 16 June 1994 Amsterdam, Netherlands, and grew up in Huizen.

He is an ethnic Kosovo Albanian, with roots from Mitrovicë.

He began practicing judo from the age of four, took up kickboxing at age 12 and began training in mixed martial arts alongside his brother Egzon, at the age of 15.

Selmani became Professional Kickboxing Heavyweight Champion, after an 8-man tournament in one night, that took place in Bremerhaven, Germany.

2012

Selmani joined Golden Glory management team and began to compete in amateur mixed martial arts Shooto competitions in the Netherlands in 2012.

His first professional fight was on 8 July 2012 against Kaan Postaci in The Hague The Netherlands.

He ended up knocking him out with a knee left hook combo.

He won his second fight at Shooto Europe against Jorrit Leeman.

On 24 November 2012 Selmani Fought Anatoli Ciumac in Brașov, Romania, which he won.

He faced Ante Delija at Final Fight Championship 05 and lost by TKO.

2013

Selmani defeated Mario Milosavljevic in November 2013 to record his second professional victory, and beat Tomaž Simonič at FFC 10 in Skopje, Macedonia.

2014

Selmani defeated Oli Thompson in 18 seconds in the main event of BAMMA 15 on 5 April 2014 in London.

Selmani competed for Bellator MMA at Bellator 130 in October 2014, losing via TKO to Daniel Gallemore.

Selmani got invited for a tryout in Dubai, and it was William Regal’s choice to get him to sign a contract for WWE.

2015

After signing with WWE in 2015, he has since teamed with Akam as part of the Authors of Pain, with whom he has held the NXT Tag Team Championship and WWE Raw Tag Team Championship once, and they also won the 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament.

To date, Selmani is the first and only Albanian to ever wrestle in the WWE.

In May 2015, it was reported that Selmani had signed a contract with WWE and would begin training to become a professional wrestler at the WWE Performance Center.

In October 2015, WWE confirmed that Selmani was a WWE developmental recruit already training at the Performance Center.

2016

He made his in-ring debut at a NXT house show in Venice, Florida on 30 January 2016, losing to Josh Woods.

By February 2016, Selmani had formed a tag team with Sunny Dhinsa, and they became known as The Authors of Pain by April 2016.

Selmani and Dhinsa made their televised NXT debuts on 8 June 2016 at NXT TakeOver: The End; following the NXT Tag Team Championship match, they attacked champions American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) before leaving backstage with Paul Ellering.

On 15 June episode of NXT, the Authors of Pain won their first televised match and were managed by Ellering.

On 24 August episode of NXT Selmani's ring name was revealed to be Rezar, while Dhinsa was billed as Akam.

The duo won the 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, defeating TM61 in the tournament final at NXT TakeOver: Toronto.

At NXT TakeOver: San Antonio, the Authors of Pain defeated #DIY to win the NXT Tag Team Championship.

They retained the title at NXT TakeOver: Orlando by defeating #DIY and The Revival in a Triple Threat Tag Team Elimination match by eliminating both teams.

At NXT TakeOver: Chicago, the duo participated in the first NXT Takeover main event for the NXT Tag Team Championship by defeating #DIY in a ladder match to retain the title.

At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, the Authors of Pain lost the titles to SAnitY.

at NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong competed in a 3 team WarGames match which was won by The Undisputed Era.

On 20 December episode of NXT, Authors of Pain lost the NXT Tag Team Championship to Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly.

At NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia, Authors of Pain got a rematch but were unsuccessful.

At NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, Authors of Pain competed in a Triple threat tag team match for the NXT Tag Team Championship and Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic trophy which was won by The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly).

On 9 April episode of Raw, The Authors of Pain, along with Ellering, made their main roster debut, defeating Heath Slater and Rhyno.

After the match, Akam and Rezar ended their partnership with Ellering by pushing him away and leaving him ringside as they returned backstage.

On 3 September episode of Raw, The Authors of Pain, now under the shortened name of "AOP", were accompanied to the ring by the 205 Live General Manager, Drake Maverick, who announced himself as their new manager.

On 5 November episode of Raw, The Authors of Pain defeated Seth Rollins in a handicap match to win the Raw Tag Team Championship for the first time.

They went on to defeat SmackDown's Tag Team Champions Cesaro and Sheamus in an interbrand Champion vs Champion match at Survivor Series.