Apollo Crews On His Return to NXT, Facing Bron Breakker At NXT Deadline

Apollo Crews is set to face Bron Breakker for the NXT Championship at NXT Deadline this weekend, and he recently talked about his return to the brand, Breakker’s main roster prospects and more. Crews spoke with Wrestling Inc for a new interview and you can check out the highlights below:

On his mindset going into the match: “Man, it’s getting mentally prepared. For me, there’s a lot that I think about … WrestleMania 37 happened, won the Intercontinental title, and then a whole year, maybe even more until Halloween Havoc went on until I was even on a premium live event. So yeah, just the fact that much time had passed was one thing that I think about. And here I am on my second premium live event in a row, which I don’t remember the last time, if ever it’s happened.

“So things like that cross my mind … Don’t really feel any pressure, but I know that I have to perform to a certain level, which I know I’m capable of. So thinking about that, making sure you’re mentally prepared, physically prepared, along with the other things. A life that I have going on, right? With two kids and all that stuff … But mainly the fact that I have an opportunity to come out here and accomplish something that I haven’t accomplished before. And that’s exactly what I came back to do on winning the “NXT” title. I feel like it’s one of those things that’s, I missed out on the first time around. I got called up to the main roster pretty quick and didn’t really have a chance to experience being champion before I got up there. And then fortunately, I was lucky enough to win the United States title and the Intercontinental championship. But being able to come back and kind of re-change the direction of my career and have this opportunity to start over, if you want to say — it’s a blessing. It’s a blessing. And I’m pumped. I’m excited about this Saturday. I’m ready to go out there and tear the house down.”

On the mutual respect storyline heading into the match: “Well, I don’t know if it really grew out of anything. I think it’s a fact — two good guys that are competing over the same thing. At the end of the day, it’s like, he has something I want. I want something he has. So I think it’s just, there’s no ill will. I have nothing against him and I respect everything that he’s done. It’s admirable what he’s done in such a short amount of time. He’s beat some top guys. But again, he hasn’t done anything to me personally, to where I feel like I need to dig at him. You know what I mean?”

On how his NXT return came about: “It was something that I had asked, because we were doing the Nigerian character, and it’d gone so well for a while … Through the whole thing, we were coming up with certain things week to week. I remember I was at the park with my son one time, and it was the day after I got back from a Smackdown, I think. And I was getting a text about, ‘Hey, what can we add to the character this week? Can we do this? Can we do that?’ So it was really building on that character on a weekly basis because when it happened, it was kind of overnight. There was no vignettes about it. There was nothing to say why I’m doing this. It was just like, boom, here it is, right?

“I wanted to reach back into my roots and go that route. But then it kind of got stale there for a while, where it was a couple months of just not doing anything. I was on the show ‘Main Event,’ and I was kind of sat down one day and I was just like, ‘Man … I don’t want to just be doing ‘Main Event.” And there’s nothing against it, but it’s just like, I want to be on ‘Raw’ and ‘SmackDown,’ right? That’s what, I feel like anybody’s here should want, I don’t think I’m wrong for feeling that way. And nothing was happening. So I had actually thought it’d be a great idea to come back and be able to try something different, maybe get away from the character and kind of get a reset or a restart. So I was blessed with this opportunity to be able to come back and do that and kind of change the trajectory of my career.”

On how long he wants to stay in NXT: “I’m not in a hurry [to return to the main roster], because I want to keep developing and keep bringing more sides out of me before going back and presenting whatever package is presented. But I want to be able to have all my angles covered to where that mistake isn’t making again of, ‘Okay, here I am, just smile and do cool stuff.’ I need that depth … I need to really understand the different levels of who I am to be the best superstar that I can be. So obviously, of course WrestleMania is the goal. ‘Raw,’ ‘SmackDown,’ of course those, that’s definitely the goal. But right now, I’m enjoying the time that I have in ‘NXT’ and the way I feel, like if I handle my business here correctly, all those things will fall in place. I’ll just control what I can and make the best of what I’m doing and let the rest take care of itself.”

On if Breakker is main roster-ready: “You know what? When I take that title, it might be a good time to find out, right? We’ll see, we’ll see. Personally, I do think that he is. Whether he feels like it or not, I’m not sure, but I feel like he is. He’s done so much already where it’s like, ‘Man, this guy,’ in such a short time … That’s the type of career that if you could look at a career and be like, ‘Man, this is, I want my career to be that’ … Where if you’re looking out from the outside as a young aspiring WWE talent, this is the guy you’re looking at to be like, ‘Man, I hope I have a career or a beginning of a career like that.’ Right? Because he’s set up for success, and he is going to have a fantastic career. But this Saturday, that’s just going to be my day.”