A combat sport veteran and former champion took to social media recently to urge AEW to sign a recently released ex-WWE name. The latter, Apollo Crews, had been with the sports entertainment juggernaut for over a decade.
The One Man Nation signed a contract with WWE towards the end of 2014, and began his journey in the company on the promotion’s developmental brand, NXT. He graduated to the main roster soon after in 2016, and faced opponents like Heath Slater, Stardust (aka Cody Rhodes), Chris Jericho and Sheamus on Monday Night RAW before eventually being drafted to Friday Night Smackdown. Over the next several years, Apollo wrestled more prominent names like Dean Ambrose, Buddy Murphy, Aleister Black, Andrade, Bobby Lashley and more.
He even became a one-time US Champion, and a one-time Intercontinental Champion, a belt he won from Big E at WrestleMania 37. However, WWE never ended up giving Crews a sustained push as an upper-card singles player, and although he returned from an extended injury-related hiatus late last year, the company released him just a few days ago. The California-born star took to his Instagram profile around an hour ago to pen a heartfelt post addressing his exit from the Triple H-led company.
Interestingly, former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Muhammed Lawal left an interesting message for Crews in his comments section, voicing hope that the latter will get hired by AEW.
“I hope AEW signs you!!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥,” wrote “King Mo”.
Notably, Lawal, who is no stranger to the pro-wrestling business himself, is a member of the American Top Team, a group that made appearances in All Elite Wrestling under the leadership of Dan Lambert back in 2021.
Rumor killer on another released ex-WWE name joining AEW
Like Apollo Crews, Aleister Black and Zelina Vega were also released by WWE recently, among many other well-known talent. While this immediately sparked conjecture that the erstwhile Malakai Black might soon return to AEW alongside his House of Black stable-mate Buddy Matthews, Dave Meltzer recently went on X/Twitter to speculate that the former All Elite Wrestling World Trios Champion will likely have to wait out a 90-day non-compete clause following his WWE departure.
“I would think he’s got a 90 day non-compete. I talked extensively at the end of today’s show about him. Very interesting decision for TK.” – posted Meltzer.
It remains to be seen whether Black will be featured again by the Tony Khan-led promotion.
Get all the hottest wrestling news FIRST by clicking here
Edited by Anurag Mukherjee
