Apollo Crews says he was told about 10 minutes before a live WWE promo that his Nigerian accent would run through the entire segment, rather than a single line. The late change came after he had already objected to using an accent for the character, which grew from a conversation with Big E about African representation on television.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Crews said Big E had pointed out a lack of African representation on WWE’s main roster. Crews, whose parents are Nigerian, thought he could tell a story about learning more about that heritage with the audience.
“It would have been interesting for me I thought to really go back and understand and learn Nigerian culture and bring the fans along for this ride as well. So pitched the idea at the time and apparently the first thing that Vince at the time said was, ‘Is he going to have an accent?’ And that wasn’t something that I was planning on doing.”
Crews said he had grown up imitating his father’s accent with his siblings, but did not believe it belonged in his proposed character. He said he raised his objection directly before ultimately agreeing to the presentation.
“I remember I was really strongly against it at first cuz I didn’t feel like it just didn’t make sense to me. And we as kids, I had a lot of Nigerian-American friends, so we’d kind of imitate our parents and do that accent a lot as kids and my brother and sister, we’d kind of pretend, put on the accent, just kind of imitate my dad and stuff. But by no means did I ever think that I was going to be doing it on TV in front of millions of people or anything to that level. So, I felt strongly about it. I went and spoke to him and I pleaded my case against it. Obviously, I was talked into it and I was like, ‘Okay, well, if I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it 100%.’”
The timing of the first promo added another challenge. Crews recalled preparing to speak in his usual voice before a late instruction expanded one accented line into the entire promo.
“I remember the first promo we were going to do, I was going to do it regular accent, my normal accent now, and I think 10 minutes before the show started, he wanted me to do one line with an accent. 10 minutes before the show started, they told me he wanted me to do the whole thing. I’m just standing there rehearsing the promo. Wanted me to do the whole thing in an accent. And I was like, ‘What?’”
Crews said he committed to the character once he went through the curtain, drawing on his father’s manner and adding his own touches. He felt that period was when the presentation clicked most strongly, even though the sudden change from his established on-screen voice could confuse viewers.
“I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to give this 110%. I’m going to go out there and do this to the best of my ability.’ And I was able to just dive so deep into the character and almost forget that I was me, you know, and just be this character.”
Crews said that run led to his Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania 37. He had previously discussed his misgivings about the accent; this interview adds his account of objecting directly and receiving the expanded promo instruction just before going on air.
Source: Apollo Crews on Insight with Chris Van Vliet.
