Uhaa Nation (Apollo Crews) Says He Expected To Be Released From WWE Two Days Before It Happened
After 11 years with the company, Apollo Crews was released by WWE on April 24.
Crews had largely been competing on WWE Main Event, but did appear in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the SmackDown before Mania.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Crews opened up about his release.
“I was at my son’s basketball practice, and I kind of had an idea because it was WrestleMania the week before, and I hadn’t been doing anything on TV. I got called in to do some appearances at WrestleMania. Two years before I stayed at home for both WrestleManias where I didn’t do media or any appearances. I was in Vegas for Mania, got home, and on Wednesday after Mania, I got a call from travel, and they said I’m not needed for SmackDown. In that moment, I instantly knew. ‘Friday, they’re going to call me and that’s going to be it.’ Friday came. Went about it like normal, and the whole day I was just waiting for the call. I got my son to basketball practice at 5 PM, and the call came. A 45-second call just explaining the situation. It didn’t hit me how I was expected.
“There have been times throughout my career where I was expecting to get released because I wasn’t doing anything, and I had seen so many people get released. I almost felt like a survivor because I was still there. I almost pictured what it would feel like, but when it happened, it was not that picture. It didn’t feel how I thought it would feel.”
Asked how he did feel, he replied, “I didn’t really feel anything. It’s not like it was, ‘Ah, I don’t care ‘; I just didn’t give it enough time to process. Not that it was unexpected, but the fact that I did expect it kind of softened the blow. It wasn’t that I didn’t care, but I wasn’t overly emotional about it.”
Crews said he needed to focus on still being a dad since he was at his son’s practice.
He has been largely out of the wrestling spotlight since his release, wrestling once for TNA and DragonGate.
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