Apollo Crews: “There would been times when I was expecting to be released throughout my career”
During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Uhaa Nation (formerly Apollo Crews) talked about his 2026 release from WWE. Here is what he had to say about receiving the news…
“I was at my son’s basketball practice, and that week I kind of had an idea because it was WrestleMania the week before and I hadn’t been doing anything on TV. I got called in to do some appearances at WrestleMania, which was pretty cool because I think two years before that, I just stayed at home for both WrestleManias where I didn’t even go to do any media, no appearances, anything like that.
So I was out in Vegas for Mania, get home. I think it was Wednesday after Mania. I got a call from travel and they said that I’m not needed for SmackDown this week, so I’ll be staying home.
And at that moment, I instantly knew. I was like, okay, Friday, they’re gonna call me and this is gonna be it.
So Friday came, went about it like normal. The whole day I was just waiting for the call. I get my son to basketball practice around like 5 p.m. and, you know, here the call comes. 45-second call, you know, just explaining the situation.
And the first thing, I didn’t even really, like, think too much. It didn’t hit me like how I expected. Like, you know, there’d been times when I was expecting to be released throughout my career just because I wasn’t doing anything.
And I had seen so many people just getting released left and right, and I’d almost developed, like, this survivor’s remorse because I’m like, man, how come I’m still here?
But I always pictured what it would be like, but when it happened, it was nothing like I pictured. Like, I didn’t feel like how I thought I’d felt.
I didn’t really feel anything.
It was just kind of—when I said I didn’t feel anything, it wasn’t like, I don’t care, but it was just, I think I just didn’t give it enough time to process, you know?
And I think it was just—not that it was unexpected, but I think the fact that I did expect it kind of helped soften the blow. And it wasn’t that I didn’t care, but it was just like I wasn’t overly emotional about it.
And I was at basketball practice with my son. So, you know, I was like, okay, I have to still be a dad, you know? Once this practice is over, I can’t, you know, just sulk in my misery until we get home. You know, he’s gonna—he knows nothing about what’s going on with the job. And even if I explained it to him, he just couldn’t understand it.”