WWE star and former Intercontinental champion Apollo Crews recently joined the Out of Character podcast with Ryan Satin, where Crews discussed his return to NXT, how he believes he’s made the most out of the opportunity, and whether he would like to stay on the brand or return to the main roster. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
Saw his return to NXT as an opportunity to adapt:
I was like man, I’m 100% for it. It was one of those things where it was like, ‘Is it long term or is it gonna be short term?’ Me, honestly, it doesn’t matter. I’m gonna control what I can control. You give me this opportunity, I’m gonna come out here and kill it. If they bring me back to Raw or SmackDown two weeks later, so be it. If they bring me back in two months, so be it. In my head, I wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity that I was being presented with because essentially I was presented the opportunity to kind of change the trajectory of my career and kind of really start over, which not a lot of people get to do. It that this stuff didn’t happen, but we’re almost like, ‘Let’s just wipe that slate clean, and we’re gonna start right here.’ It’s like okay, we’re gonna work on what should have been done the first time.
Admits that he didn’t have enough time to develop in NXT during his first run there:
I think when I originally got to NXT and was first signed, I think the time that I got to spend at NXT was just way too short. I don’t think I had enough development as a character, as a TV personality, I wasn’t developed enough. I was not ready to go, but this is something where Triple H himself pulled me aside and was like hey, you’re gonna debut on Raw. This was after Dallas. We did a TakeOver in Dallas, I believe I wrestled Elias for a taping the following week on NXT, which at that time was still on the WWE network. Triple H comes up to me and [he said] I’m going to Raw basically tomorrow. Or WrestleMania was Sunday, and then I was going on Monday. I was like, ‘Wow.’ What do you say? You’re not gonna sit there and be like, ‘No, I think I need to stay down here longer.’ This is the dream. This is what I literally came here for. I didn’t know what to expect, just like signing with NXT. I didn’t know what to expect, moving to the Performance Center or moving to Orlando. You don’t know what to expect, and you hear so many different stories. Even the stories that you hear, it doesn’t matter what anybody tells you. Everybody’s situation is gonna be different. Everybody’s career is gonna be different, the way things happen to people. It’s all gonna be different, so you can’t really base it off of what anybody says.
Believes he has taken full advantage of his latest run with NXT:
So just being blessed with this opportunity to come over, come down and help myself while helping other young talent as well, it’s a blessing and it’s an honor, and I’m gonna take full advantage of this, which I feel like I’ve done these last six months already. Whenever the time is right, whenever that decision’s made, we can get back, hopefully get back to Raw, SmackDown, get onto premium live events, get on the WrestleManias, the Royal Rumbles, the Survivor Series, the SummerSlams. That’s what I feel like everybody comes here for. They’d be lying if they told you they didn’t.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)