Apollo Crews On His Long Journey To WWE Gold, Expanding His In-Ring Persona

Despite being on WWE’s main roster for the better part of two years, it feels like many viewers are just now starting to get to know Apollo Crews. The current United States Champion is getting a sustained storyline all on his own against MVP and Bobby Lashley after years of stop and start booking. In a talk with Newsweek, Crews talked about his mindset over the years and how he knows his rise wasn’t the norm.

Four years is a long time, but I was raised to never quit. My dad says that there is no substitute for hard work so I keep that in my mind that “hard work has to pay off” and I’m going to keep grinding, hustling until it does. It has, but this is just the beginning. Now that I’m US Champion the real work begins.

Even in his days in NXT, Apollo hasn’t really been given much time in the spotlight. His standing moonsaults did the talking, but recent episodes of RAW have started to carve out a personality that fans can latch onto.

I’m focusing on what’s going on right now so I’m not thinking about what’s going to happen down the line. I’m enjoying being United States Champion, wrestling on two pay-per-views in a row which is a first for me. It’s a whole different side of my career than just a few months ago. But I definitely feel that I haven’t reached my full potential and I’m working on getting there.

Speaking of NXT, many complain that Crews was taken off WWE’s third brand before he was ready. In hindsight, Crews agrees with that assessment, but there’s not much he could have done about it at the moment.

I got to debut in the first NXT Takeover: Brooklyn so it’s not one of those things where you tell them, “I’m glad you want to do that with me, but I want to wait a little longer” you know what I mean? It’s just not real. Some people might think like that, but it’s not what I think of. When I look back, it would have been nice to have more time for all of that to come together.