Apollo Crews reflects on his heel turn.
In 2021, Apollo Crews re-emerged with his ‘Nigerian Royalty’ character. He went into WrestleMania 37 as the challenger to the Intercontinental Title and became champion with assistance from Commander Azeez. Crews lost his title to Shinsuke Nakamura in August and as a part of the 2021 WWE Draft, he was moved over to the Raw brand and was last in action on the January 17th program.
Crews talked to Comicbook.com ahead of the Royal Rumble event and reflected on his heel turn. He stated that it was initially difficult for him to lean into the accent to go along with the ‘Nigerian Royalty’ character because as a kid, people would often try to get him to do it and he disliked that.
I’d say the accent of course, because it’s just something that was so different. People weren’t used to that so I think that for me, and that’s something I used to do as a kid when I was with all my Nigerian friends and my brothers and sisters. It’s so weird because you find other Nigerian-American kids and you just naturally gravitate towards them, because you just have that in common, but I think that is easily the hardest part. People would try to get me to do that accent as a kid and I hated it because I know, ‘Do it again, do it again,’ and I didn’t want to be that. So for me to go and do that in front of millions of people was a huge challenge, but I think life is all about stepping outside that comfort zone and doing those things that you’re uncomfortable with and it ended up being the best thing that I’ve done because 2021 was easily the best year of my career.
Crews feels that things have been stagnant for him as of late and explained what a Royal Rumble win could have done for him professionally. He often finds himself in situations where he does not know where he’s headed and a Royal Rumble win could have provided clarity as to what he would be doing in the coming months.
Lately things have been kind of stagnant, so for me, it would be…I got to go to WrestleMania last year and just that feeling of leading up to WrestleMania is what I live for, and I need that feeling again. That’s the type of person I am. I was saying that as soon as WrestleMania’s over, as soon as my match was over, won the title, and the next day I wanted to get on that prep again. I was back in the gym and I just wanted that feeling, and I look back and I should’ve taken the time to enjoy, but that’s just how I’m built. So, it would kind of light that fire up under me again. Not that it’s out or anything, but I just find myself sometimes in a place where it’s like, which way do we go, do you know what I mean? So for me, it would be, all right here it is. Clear direction, I know what I’m doing.
Along with Crews’ Intercontinental Title reign, he is a former United States Champion. He challenged for the U.S. Title this past November when he took on current champion Damian Priest.
