The WWE Is Ruining... Apollo Crews

As a pro wrestling fan, it is a part of our identity to always know how to utilize wrestlers better than the WWE. If WWE would just give me, random WWE fan, a job a the company, ratings would immediately rise to the levels of the Monday Night Wars, despite how television ratings have changed as a whole over the last 20 years. But until that happens, WWE will continue ruining our favorite wrestlers, and that is why it is time to point out the error in their ways. Because of WWE's incompetence, I am literally going to pick a wrestler at random and point out how they could be better utilized, because WWE is ruining everyone in one way or another.

Today, we look at a guy that I had high expectations for, and the WWE dashed those very quickly after his call-up, Apollo Crews. And of course, I wrote this a couple weeks in advance, before he got his biggest push yet, by not only winning, but dominating, a battle royal to set up an Intercontinental Title match with Dean Ambrose. He then of course promptly lost that match, but it could be a sign of things to come. If he gets a huge push immediately, great. If not, I have an alternate option below.

Before joining the WWE, Uhaa Nation had made a decent name for himself. He wasn't considered a top indy guy at the time, but he was more seen as somebody who would be a top indy guy if he continued to work that wrestling scene. He was a very important part of both Dragon Gate and Evolve, and the WWE had seen enough to sign him to a developmental deal for 2015.

He made his debut in August of 2015 and ran through Tye Dillinger, Tyler Breeze, and even Finn Balor (by disqualification) before losing for the first time to Baron Corbin. It was a weird loss for him to get, but considering that NXT often falls into new guy stays undefeated for way too long, it didn't seem to be a big issue.

Then on April 4, 2016, he beat Tyler Breeze again on NXT...wait, no, for some reason he was already called up and this happened on Monday Night Raw. Just over half a year on NXT, and he was already up on the main roster. On one hand, good for him. On the other hand, Crews could have used some more seasoning.

And that is where the problems began. WWE, if your plan to start somebody off on the right foot on the main roster is to have them feud with the Social Outcasts, maybe just hold off on bringing them up at that point. At least Crews was able to overcome that dominant stable. After that, he came close to pushes as he was in #1 contenders matches as well as actual title matches, although he never actually won those matches. The big issue, and one that anyone who watched NXT could see, was that he never developed a personality, so it was pretty hard to get invested in anything he did.

Then he joined Titus Worldwide. You may be shocked to learn that things did not get better. They avoided giving Crews a personality, but didn't really let Titus have one either as even he wasn't allowed to give many promos, just holler a lot outside the ring as Crews wrestled inside of it.

He has now ditched Titus Worldwide, which would have been my first step to making him relevant. But the issue of never guiding him along to let him work on promos will continue to haunt him in any potential rise within the company. So how can you get the most out of Apollo Crews?

I think that the best thing you can do for him is put him in a tag team. He's an ideal hot tag guy as he's strong and explosive in his moves, but he's a good enough wrestler where he could also be the scrappy side of a tag team. I will admit that I struggled to find him the right tag partner. Chad Gable was my first thought, but I would rather just put American Alpha back together. My next thought was Finn Balor, but that seems like a really poor use of Finn Balor. Ultimately, I couldn't settle, but here were my four best options.

4. Tye Dillinger
I don't know how they fit together, but I just want something for both of these guys, and although Dillinger isn't going to amaze people with moves, he's super good at what he does, so they could put on some very good matches.

3. Bo Dallas
It would be a fun pairing with Bo living in his own world away from reality while Apollo had to come in with explosive moves to save the day. There is potential there.

2. No Way Jose
I know; it seems a little too on the nose and totally like something WWE would do, but I do think it has potential. It's two guys who were brought up too early with no real plans for either one, and two guys that show tremendous potential. I think it could be a fun dynamic and two guys that could be in the tag title picture.

1. Kassius Ohno
APOLLOHNO. Kassius Ohno has been in NXT since the beginning of time. Literally, dude was there at the beginning of NXT as a developmental brand. He had some time away on the independent scene, but he's back. Still talented, still used as a guy to get other talent over, and still nowhere closer to the big shows. This team is kind of a weird combination at first, but it's a combination that I think could work. They are made to put on great matches, and Ohno can handle the bulk of the talking while letting Crews be the exclamation point in interviews. The more I think about it; the more I like it.

Apollo Crews rose up to the main roster too quickly for his own good, but it's not a dire situation as the talent is still there, and with the right setting, he can still reach his full potential. I hope 2019 provides him that opportunity.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Alicia Fox
Andrade "Cien" Almas
Bayley
Bobby Lashley
Bobby Roode
Charlotte Flair
Curt Hawkins
Dana Brooke
Dash Wilder
Ember Moon
Jinder Mahal
Kane
Karl Anderson
Killian Dain
Kofi Kingston
Luke Gallows
Mickie James
Mojo Rawley
Nia Jax
Peyton Royce
Randy Orton
Scott Dawson
Shinsuke Nakamura
Tyler Breeze