Apollo Crews Reflects On WWE Losing Streak, Success Of His Nigerian Character

Uhaa Nation, the former Apollo Crews, recently discussed his lengthy losing streak in WWE and when he realized it was happening. The former Apollo Crews had a losing streak in singles matches that lasted throughout his return from the injury he suffered in a win over Johnny Gargano on the January 21st, 2025 episode of WWE Smackdown.

Uhaa spoke about the losing streak in his interview on Insight With Chris Van Vliet, noting that he started to figure out he was on a streak while he was talking to creative. He also named his run playing into his Nigerian background as the moment when he was “firing on all cylinders.” You can see the highlights below:

On When He Realized He Was On the Losing Streak:

“Man, it’s hard to say exactly when. I always try to see the light at the end of the tunnel where it’s like, ‘Okay, whatever I’m going through now, there’s gotta be something for this.’ And there may not be, but I try to keep that mentality. I tried to keep it through my whole career because it was just ups and downs, ups and downs.

“But to say a specific moment when I realized it’s just gonna be this, it’s hard to say. There was a point in time where you can kind of get a sense of it when you talk to some people, like, ‘Hey, is there anything planned?’ Or you talk to the writers, and there’s not really any direct answer. ‘It’s not you. We just gotta figure this out.’ But in the meantime, you see other things going on where they just make it happen.”

On When He Felt His WWE Career Was Firing On All Cylinders:

“Man, I’m not gonna lie, it was when I did the Nigerian character. And I say Nigerian, so my family is Nigerian. I’m not Nigerian by birth, but by blood I am Nigerian. I was born in California, but my mom and dad are Nigerian, born and raised, and my dad came over to the United States in 1983, I believe. So, first-generation American.”